Solipsism
by Blaze of Rapture
Summary: Break ups happen, life goes on. You get teleported to a fictional universe, life goes on. Life seems to be getting pretty interesting, or maybe I'm just losing my mind again. Rated M mostly for language, however other "details" might contribute to it as well.
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is an experiment for me, in a couple ways. 1. To see if I can maintain a story (Which I can't.) 2. To see how well I can write myself. I'll say this again, though no one will listen. I WILL PROBABLY NOT POST MUCH ON THIS. IT WILL VERY LIKELY NEVER BE FINISHED. So get used to that. Let's see what I can do. It kinda looks like I fell off writing, but this was actually written back in January, shortly after some... events around Christmas. These will be posted semi-regularly as I try to stay ahead of the collection I've already written. Also, this story is not meant to rip off Quantum Displacement Theory. I had a conversation with Glint a long time ago regarding this (his response is actually on the 49th chapter of his story). If you haven't read that story, I recommend it, as it has a similar idea and is complete. **

I woke up in my usual fashion, by blatantly refusing to. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, when I realized I wasn't in bed. I was on the floor. _A_ floor, not _my_ floor, I noted as I pushed myself up. My back didn't hurt, surprisingly, as it would after sleeping all night on the floor. Now for some, this experience might be all too familiar, waking up in a strange place on the floor, having probably gotten drunk and migrated here from a party. That's the thing though, I don't. I don't party.

I looked around and found my surroundings to be strange as well. The design of the house around me seemed foreign, not at all American. I decided to stand, despite being somewhat wobbly.

It was then that I realized I was wearing something different. I looked down to find I was wearing jeans and a hoodie, my usual attire, however, neither were mine, nor were they what I usually fell asleep in. The hoodie was black, with a strange crimson symbol on the front, and the jeans were a darker shade of blue than any other pair I'd owned.

I began to wander the rooms of the house, building, whatever it was. The rooms were small, again showing it wasn't American. I continued to poke through the place before noticing a dark wood table with a few ornate carvings in it. On it was a digivice, from the Tamers series.

"Alright." I said, exercising my habit of talking aloud to myself. "Someone's fucking with me." I picked it up, deciding to "play along" with this game. I examined it a bit, comparing it to the toy version I'd had when I was younger. The first major difference was that it was black, not the white or grey that they usually were. The facing or trim or whatever was crimson, notably a few shades darker than Takato's from the series. I also noticed it was sturdy, not like the cheap construction of a child's toy. This thing was tough, and I could feel it. I pocketed it in the pouch of my hoodie, despite the many warnings issued by my dad, "Don't put important shit in the front pocket, you'll lose it."

I had just turned around to leave the room, when I noticed another thing. My shoes weren't mine either. They too were crimson and black, following the scheme of my two favorite colors. The other shocking thing was that they _fit_. Most nice shoes like these don't come in size 16. When I looked back up, I saw something that someone had pinned a piece of paper to the wall with a knife, upon closer examination _my_ knife, one of them, at least. I walked up to the wall, pulled the knife out, closed it up, and pocketed it as well.

The paper, which had been folded in half, had the words "turn it on" written in graceful brushstroke calligraphy, not printed from a computer, but actually brushed on. I stood for a few moments, simultaneously admiring the skill of the writer and pondering the meaning. After a few more seconds on thought, I pulled the digivice back out to find that it was indeed off. I set the paper aside, on a table near the wall.

"Worth a shot, I guess." I said, pressing the button to turn it on. The display lit up, literally; it was backlit, another difference from the toy in the days of my youth. An instant later, I felt a light presence on my shoulder. I resisted the urge to twist and face the thing, instead opting for a peaceful approach.

"Hands off, please. I don't like to be touched." I said gently, and the presence was removed. I slowly turned and raised my hands to show that they were empty, save for the digivice. As I turned, a figure came into my view.

"Jesus. Fucking. Christ." I said, taking in the sight before me. It was a Renamon.

"Uh…" Repeatedly came out of my mouth. I was put at a loss, a hard thing to do. But then, how the hell would you react?

"You are Caleb?" The digimon in front of me asked. I must have looked like something of an idiot.

"Y-yeah." I stuttered out my response. "Are you… real?"

As if to prove my point, the Renamon reached out with a large paw and poked my face.

My face went from shock to a glare. "Alright, smart ass." The Renamon giggled a bit, simultaneously putting me off kilter a bit and forcing me to crack a smile.

We stood there awkwardly for a minute, me popping my leg back and forth and the Renamon's tail whipping against the ground.

"Stop whipping your tail on the ground, you'll get it dirty."

"Stop popping your leg." And again we were at stalemate.

After a few more minutes of awkward standing, I finally had to ask.

"Why am I here?" The question was necessary, and it shattered the silence and tension of the air.

The Renamon began to shift from leg to leg uncomfortably before responding. "I don't know."

I raised an eyebrow and replied flatly. "What."

"I'm not sure." I brought my hand to my face in mild frustration and confusion.

I thought for a moment, and then picked up the paper. I unfolded it and faced the writing to the Renamon.

"Did you write this?" I asked, gesturing to the paper, digivice still in hand.

The Renamon nodded. Ok, now we're getting somewhere.

"Why?"

The Renamon again shifted from leg to leg before responding, as if unsure about all of this. This definitely wasn't Rika's Renamon.

"I had to. If you didn't turn it on, I wouldn't be able to talk to you."

I stopped everything. I stopped popping my leg, my arm holding the paper dropped to my side, and my brain stopped functioning as it all crashed together.

I recovered a few seconds later, but the shock was still present in my voice.

"Am I your Tamer?"

The Renamon nodded.

I leaned back into the wall and slid down, trying to cope with this.

"That's it, then?" I said to myself, probably confusing the Renamon. "I finally did it. I went crazy." The Renamon tried to pick me up by the shoulders, lugging me upwards and failing.

I looked up at the Renamon. "This is real?"

"Yes." The Renamon replied, obviously irate at not being able to pick me up.

I stood up fully, not slouching anymore to pop my leg and looked the Renamon dead in the eye, enjoying the fact that I was larger than the Renamon. I intensely looked down into the Renamon's eyes.

"You better not be lying." I said with a wicked grin. I put the digivice back into my pouch and began to walk through the house again, looking for a couch.

After a minute of searching, with the Renamon closely following me, I found one, with a television in the same room. I sat and so did the Renamon.

I took the remote in my hand and turned to the Renamon. "I have two questions for you. Answer honestly." A nod was the reply.

"First, are we in Shinjuku?"

The Renamon nodded, "Yes, how did you know that?"

"Call me psychic." I said, shrugging off the question. "Second, are you female?"

"Well, technically…" I stopped the Renamon mid-sentence.

"Don't give me the "technically digimon are data so we have no gender" bullshit. You and I both know digimon have gender. It's a binary data point."

The Renamon didn't seem to enjoy being cut off. "I was going to say, technically, yes. I haven't developed fully, but I am a female."

She turned away and I turned on the TV.

We sat and watched for a few minutes before my urge got the better of me. I _ever so subtly_ reached over and stroked down her arm. She returned with the most wide-eyed look I've seen from any person or digimon.

"Sorry." I said. "Couldn't resist."

After _that_ awkwardness passed, I spoke again.

"I have another question."

"You seem to be full of them today."

"Wow, has my smart ass demeanor already rubbed off on you?"

"Yes." Blunt.

"Anyways, have you been here for a while? In this world, I mean."

She pondered for a moment. "I crossed over a few days ago and have been living in this house."

I nodded. "Have you seen a girl in a trenchcoat walking around, possibly with a Renamon like yourself following her?"

She looked confused. "Yes. How did you know that?" So, that's about where I am chronologically. Crap.

"Where I come from, this entire reality is a work of fiction. Anyone who's seen it could tell you the events to follow. Unfortunately, I haven't watched it in years, so I can't remember plot details."

Renamon looked at me queerly for a moment. "A work of fiction?"

"Yeah, I know, it seems unbelievable. The thing is, you and I weren't in the original work. That's going to screw things up a bit."

"So you have a rough idea of what will happen?"

"To a point, but I remember certain things better than others."

"Like?"

I pulled out the digivice. "I know how to work one of these things pretty well. That, and I remember how to get you to digivolve."

"Really? Do it then!" She seemed giddy, as any digimon would at the prospect.

"I can't yet." Her expression fell. "I know how, but we aren't strong enough as partners to be able to yet."

"What do you mean?"

"We have to grow as friends."

She paused for a moment. "We're… friends?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be… Aw, come on, tell me you don't buy into the whole 'tamer is master' crap?"

"But… aren't you?"

I sighed. "No, I'm not. I don't want to be your master. That would make you my slave. We are equals. I respect you, I hope you do the same for me. We are two parts of a whole."

"So… we are friends?" She said slowly, seeming to finally get it.

"Yes. I care about you. I just met you, but as your Tamer, part of my job is to take care of you and train you. As my partner, you have to help protect me and work with me. Symbiotic."

"Good. I like you, Caleb." She reached out and stroked down the side of my arm. Oh, great. She thinks that's our thing now.

"Don't start doing that." I said, feigning seriousness.

She seemed taken aback. "Sorry, I was just teasing you."

"I know." I said, then I stoically turned my head to her and cracked a smirk. "So was I."

She lightly smacked me. "You have a very dry sense of humor, you know that?"

"Do I? Or am I sarcastic?" I quipped, never losing the smirk.

"I'm not too sure what you are." She said, a bit of confusion falling over her face.

"Suppose that makes it difficult for me, then. I know a lot about you, you know nothing about me." I said, absentmindedly watching the television, using it more for flashing lights than entertainment.

"How do you figure that? You may know about that other Renamon, but not me. I'm entirely different. And don't think I haven't picked up on a few things from you."

I turned back to her with genuine interest. "Good point on you, but what have you picked up about me?"

"Well, given that statement, I'd guess you like a debate. Not a fight, but a friendly debate. Most people can't see the difference."

I nodded. "That's exceptionally perceptive of you, given how different digimon are characteristically from humans."

"And that. Three words that are usually too large or complex to fit into an average person's vocabulary."

"Hmm. Seems I'm giving you a little too much ammunition, let's hear another, since this sentence probably gave you nothing."

"Well," She said, thinking for a moment. "The clothes you're wearing. I assume they are your usual attire." I nodded in response. "By that, I can assume you are something of an informal person, who likes the cold."

I rolled up the sleeves of my hoodie, no doubt proving her right. "How do you figure those things?"

"Informal, due to the fact that I can see no collar on your shirt, a thing I noted most professionals do have, along with the fact that no one wears such simple clothing to a formal event, so far as I've seen."

I was impressed. "Very good." I praised, patting her on the head mock-condescendingly. "And the cold bit?"

"That is a fairly thick jacket, plus you rolled up your sleeves, which shows the room is too warm for it, but you won't take it off."

"So, that means I like the cold? I mean, yes I do, but that is hardly evidence."

"But you taking my bait and admitting to it, are very much so." Now her turn to smirk, as I lost mine.

"Crafty. Very clever, my dear Renamon." I paused, wondering something. The name seemed long, ill-fitting.

She seemed to notice. "What's wrong?" She asked, a slight franticness in her voice. "Did I assume too much?"

"No," I said, expressionless, "But you are right, don't assume, it makes an ass of you and me."

She was not pleased. "Funny. But really, what are you thinking about?"

I opened my mouth, then paused, pondering once more. "Renamon, do you want a name?"

She stalled at the question. "Huh?"

"Well, there is another Renamon about. For sake of sanity, and just for a personal touch, would you want a name past the generic?"

Now it was her turn to ponder. "I suppose, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I always have liked the name Raia. If you like that, we could use it." **(A/N: Pronounced like the "riah" in Mariah)**

She took a moment to roll it through her mouth. "Hmm. Righ-uh. Riiiigh-uh. Hmm."

I sat, enjoying her scrutiny of the name. A name is nothing to be wasted, especially when you get to choose it yourself.

"So? What do you think?" I asked after she stopped.

"I think…" She said, pondering a bit more. "I like it. You may call me Raia."

"Glad to see I have the privilege, Raia." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

After we'd had our conversation, we sat on the couch and watched television. Well, she might have been, but I wasn't. The TV just turned into pretty lights again as I lost myself to thought. To be honest, I doubt she was watching it either, but I was too lost to notice.

There were three main thoughts on my mind:

One, how did I get here? I decided not to think about this one too much, else I would lose track of reality, both this one and my "normal" one.

Two, since I was placed here, conveniently at the start of the season, I had to wonder if I was intended to interfere. Logically, I would only cause deviations from the usual plot, and therefore problems. However, if I was here, perhaps something else had changed as well. A force of good to counter a force of evil, keeping the balance? Seems just as likely as being pulled into a fictional world, so I would go with that for now.

Three, I had to wonder what was going to happen between myself and Raia. I won't lie, I'd told myself, several times, I would enjoy it if I was placed in this exact situation, one I had read variation after variation of during my phases of reading digimon fanfiction. That, and I had been about a week out of a "sort-of" breakup. Of course, anyone could see these were just reasons I gave myself to justify where I would try to guide the relationship, from friendship to something more.

Other thoughts phased in and out of my mind as I passed back and forth between these three. One that popped up more than a few times was, "How are you going to fight? You've got no cards, not training, hell, no real experience." True, these things were, but I could definitely get the first two, and the third would come with time. Lucky for me, the writers were nice enough to start the season with rookies and champions, not megas and ultimates.

Despite my depth of thought, I was still roused from it when Raia stood, trance-like, appearing to stare at a wall. I stood, walking to the nearest window and followed her line of sight through the wall.

"You sense one coming through, don't you?"

She snapped from the trance of tracking the emergence. "Uh... yes. How did you know?"

I shrugged. "Lucky guess. Here's what we are going to do." I said as I walked back to her. She nodded somewhat briskly, partly out of shaking the trance, I would guess, and partly to acknowledge me.

"Take me there. Keep our distance, I think this can be a learning experience."

She looked confused. "Take you there? This is a wild digimon we're talking about. We can't fight yet, or is getting killed suddenly a learning experience?"

I shook my head. "Yeah, phase me out with you, drag my happy ass over there, and we'll keep our distance _and_ _watch_. I know what will happen, so I can use it as a visual aid."

She groaned, taking my hand reluctantly. "I suppose I must start to trust you if you are to be my tamer." I felt my body… well, _shift_, I guess. I figured the phasing out worked by vibrating on a frequency incompatible with the physical world, and this feeling seemed to back that up. I wasn't lying about dragging my ass over there, though. Raia could hardly carry me, and I couldn't follow her pace to save my life.

We arrived in a dark area where the Goblimon was visible and I saw Renamon and Rika quickly approaching. I noticed it seemed they were in earshot, but I still decided to make a quick note to Raia before the battle began.

"You watch Rika. I know you can fight, it's bred into you. You watch her, I'll explain later." I would be doing the opposite, noting the standard move set of Renamon as she attacked, looking for weaknesses, strengths, anything that could help. The battle continued until Calumon inadvertently digivolved the Goblimon, with Rika waiting until just before to use a card. Now, I began to analyze the card's effect on Renamon's movements, drinking in as much detail as possible, down to the last flick of the tail. As the battle drew to a close, I nudged Raia and gestured to Renamon, as if to say "Watch."

"That's more like it, Renamon. Not even a champion level digimon can stand in our way anymore. Now, download Fugamon's data." I heard Rika say. I saw Raia's eyes become wide, witnessing what could be seen as cannibalism. "Next time, you'll win...without my help."

The pair soon left, but we remained. Raia looked disgusted and frightened all at once.

"Why…" Was all she said. I put my arm over her shoulder and sighed.

"Because, Raia, all Rika wants is a powerful tool. All Renamon wants is to be that tool. Hardly symbiotic. I don't want us to be that, to be willing to commit such acts in the name of gaining power."

She nodded, obviously still shaken from what she'd seen.

"So, what did you learn from Rika?" I asked, hopeful she didn't have to see that for no reason.

"She… she didn't care at all. She didn't guide, let alone assist her partner. Renamon may as well have been out there on her own."

I nodded. "Precisely. Not a team at all, really. Tonight, I've given you an example of what not to be: a bitch and her beast, to be blunt."

"Can we go home now?" She asked, and I nodded. We phased home, myself being uncomfortably dragged the whole way.

"We really have to figure out a better way to do that." I said, only half-joking. Raia cracked a smile, but I could still see something was off. I could tell from the look in her eyes. So, I did the first thing I always do when a girl is upset. I got close to her, looked her in the eyes, and drew her into a warm, somewhat blanketing (due to my wideness) embrace.

"What's wrong?" I asked, her leaning into me as I struggled to find the couch. She might not have been able to pick me up, but she was hardly a lightweight. I eventually found it, and lowered us onto it.

"That Renamon scared me." She said, softly. "She was monstrous. I-" She stopped suddenly.

"What?" I asked, slowly beginning to stroke her back, "You what?"

"I'm afraid of becoming that." She was beginning to choke up.

I knew how she must feel; what she'd seen was equivalent to having seen a person killed, then mutilated. While data consumption wasn't uncommon, it was still fucked up. The data could return to the digital world and reform, giving the digimon a second chance. To take that away, for only a slight boost in strength, was an ultimately selfish act. It was comparable to killing a person for the money in their wallet, you only gain slightly, but they lose greatly. And yet, sadly it was indeed a common thing in the digital world, where there seemed no restraint.

"You won't. I won't let you. Part of my job is to guide you, train you, make you stronger. Rika trying use that as an edge is wrong, but I don't think she sees that. To her, digimon are tools, and vice versa with Renamon."

She just nodded, eyes somewhat misty. Poor thing, I hadn't intended to make her feel this way, but she had to see that. That scene was stronger than a million words trying to convince her.

"Come on." I said, pulling her up as I stood. "We need to get to bed. Tomorrow, we start training, and I'll get to show you how a tamer is supposed to be." I walked her around until we found the bedroom, and I laid her on one side and I got in on the other, leaving a good margin between us. Tomorrow would be a big day, I knew. Tomorrow, I was going to reveal myself.

**(Break)**

At some point in the night, it seemed I rolled toward the center of the bed. This was strange, because I never move in my sleep. I cracked my eyes open and saw that Raia had as well, leaving only a few inches between us. I was torn upon looking at her face. On one hand, it was beautiful, peaceful, I wanted to stroke the side of her face. On the other hand, she looked to be sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't bear to wake her, as I thought my touch would. I lay there for about 3 or 4 minutes before deciding to get up. I tried to be careful, and somehow I slipped out of bed without waking her.

I walked out of the room to find the shower, when a thought struck me. I had no spare clothes.

"Crap." I said audibly. _Well,_ I thought. _Looks like I'll be wearing these clothes today._ I made a mental note to add clothes to the list of things that needed to be done. I threw my clothes off and walked into the shower, somehow making it work, despite the foreign nature. I was partway through rinsing my hair when I heard the door open. I froze.

"Raia." I said, hoping to God. "Tell me that's you."

"Caleb, what are you doing?" I heard her say. I'd told her my name just before we'd gone to sleep.

"Bathing." I said as if it were obvious, which it _was_. "Haven't you seen a person bathe before? I thought you'd been around a while."

Somehow, I knew she was blushing. "I never watched people in the bathroom. Sorry." I heard the door shut. Well, wonderful. One day with my digimon, and she's already traumatized from seeing me naked, which, believe me, was hardly a pleasing sight.

Disregarding that, I returned to washing myself, quickly now, so I could go fix what I had wrought. I left the shower and begrudgingly donned the same clothes from yesterday. I looked around and noticed there were no "hygienic" products, deodorant, cologne, toothpaste, things to mask the naturally disgusting smells we create. I knew I would have to go without, and so I would stink.

I emerged from the bathroom to find Raia sitting on the couch. She noticed me and blushed hard enough for me to see through her fur.

"Sorry about that." I said as I walked over to her. "Must have been pretty bad, huh?"

She looked at me, confused. "Bad?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly in shape, ya know?" I was all too ready to poke fun at myself. I was overweight, maybe even fat, I knew that. Hundreds of hours gaming, writing, and coding had cinched that down pretty tight. I was no light weight to begin with. 6'2 and 300 pounds **(1.91 m and 136 kg for metric)**, that was me, but I was okay with it. "Not really a sight to see, especially like that."

"I didn't hate it." She said flatly, no expression on her face. Wow, really? How does one read that?

"You didn't hate it." I said, staring her in the eyes. She nodded. "What in the hell does that mean?"

"It means I didn't hate it." She said, no smirk, no grin. Perfect poker face. I wanted to slap her.

"Right." I said, trying to put it behind me. "Do I stink?"

Again, she was confused. "Uh…"

"More than usual?" I asked, somewhat in jest. "I had to wear the same clothes and I had nothing to cover my stink other than the shower."

"You smell like you did yesterday." I could see she felt like not giving an opinion.

"Well, before the next big event, let's go get me some clothes and some deodorant."

We left the house a few minutes later and she phased us over to the closest store that stocked clothes big enough for me.

I walked in and realized something.

"I have no money." I said, wide-eyed and apparently to thin air. In reality, I was talking to Raia, who was phased out.

I felt myself phase out and I was dragged outside. We were behind one of the stores, where no one would see us.

"You have no money." She said. "How are you supposed to buy food and other things, like clothes?"

I blushed a bit, never thinking I'd have to do this. "Well, I can't really get a job, considering my situation, so we'll have to… steal." She gave me the dirtiest look.

"You want me to steal things for you?" She questioned.

"Do you see much other choice?" I shot at her. "I'm from another continent, in another goddamn dimension! We hardly have a choice, beggars can't be choosers."

She nodded, but didn't seem happy about it. "Alright. Did you at least check your wallet?" I hadn't thought to, actually, but I was used to having no money. I pulled it out and opened it; still no cash. There was however, a card. A debit card, something I didn't have.

I held the card up and eyed it, as did Raia. It had my name printed on it.

"Are there ATMs in Japan?" I asked.


	3. Chapter 3

**New schedule for posting. Wednesdays and Saturday/Sunday, depending on when I get around to it. Toss out a review if you can, I'd like to know what people think.**

Turned out Japan has ATMs, and I had an account with unlimited funds. Someone decided to plan my finances well. I decided not to abuse the privilege, though. I bought a week and a half worth's clothes, plus clothes to sleep in, and a few other things. I kept the one hoodie, though. All I need is one.

We returned home, just before noon, an hour or so left before we had to show up. I spent a few minutes putting the clothes away and using a few of the hygiene products I got. That left a solid hour still. _Great. Now I'm bored._

I sat down and flicked on the TV, knowing full well I wouldn't watch it. Raia came by a few seconds later and sat down next to me. She had an entire couch, enough room to put a full cushion between us, but she sat right next to me. I was really starting to wonder about her…

"Hey Rai." I said, using a short form of her already short name.

"Hi." She said. Alright. I might not have _that_ much experience with women, but I know this act.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, fully knowing she had something on her mind.

"Nope." She chirped happily, staring blankly at the TV. This was going to get on my nerves real quick.

"So… about earlier. What did you mean?" I figured this was a good place to start. I had an intent behind it, but the generalness of the question made it so I could catch what she was thinking about.

"What? What I said about how you look?" I nodded, not sure if she saw. "Just what I said. I didn't hate it."

I decided to express my frustration the best I could. I grunted. "You and I both know that means something." I said, flat as a blacktop. "Don't play games with me, we're supposed to talk to each other, we're a team. This is something that's been on my mind, and yours too, judging by how you act."

She blushed. "I guess you caught me in a lie." She said. That was it, she said that, then silence. I grunted again. More silence.

"I swear to God."

"Alright, alright." She said, caving into finally telling me. "I have to say: true, it wasn't what most would call the best, but I like how you look. I don't know why this has been bugging either of us, we're friends after all. How we look shouldn't matter."

I was about ready to snap. _Friends?_ I thought, _Friends, and nothing more. As I should have expected._ Such was the story of my life, eternally "friend-zoned". I sat for a few more seconds, then stood.

"Yeah, you're right." I said as I walked away. "It shouldn't matter." I walked to the bedroom, shut the door behind me and fell face first into the bed. I laid there for just a couple minutes before I felt a presence.

"You should use the door." I said. I felt the bed sink and a paw land on my back.

"What's wrong?"

"Most people use the door." I said, cold as stone.

"Caleb, tell me."

"Friends use the door." My words froze as they hit the air.

"Caleb, please…" It sounded like her voice was cracking.

"You know who doesn't?" The air felt like it was chilling around me.

"Please look at me."

"People who love each other." All I heard as response was the sound of a word catching in her throat. "People who care about each other. Boundaries shrink, sometimes cease to exist, because trust blooms."

Silence filled the room, the air stagnated instantly, her hand felt limp on my back. "Caleb, I…"

"Don't have to say anything." I said, standing. "It's time for us to go. Come on." I walked out the door, and I knew she would follow.

**(Break)**

We arrived in the park and I heard Takato talking. I signaled to Raia that we should move, get behind something, so we hid behind a tree. A few moments later, I saw Rika and Renamon walking along. Rika made a hand motion and Renamon was instantly airborne. Half a second later, Guilmon became one with his inner fence.

"Hey!" Takato yelled in protest.

"What a lousy fighter. But a fight's a fight." Rika said flatly.

"Hardly a fight." I said, stepping from behind the tree. "State-side, we call that assault."

"Who are you?" Rika said looking me up and down, apparently not caring that I had no digimon to be seen, or so I thought. A paw brushed my side, signaling Raia had followed me. I looked at her briefly, she seemed… _limp._ I sighed mentally. _Shit. Guess we'll have to talk this out at home._

"Just a guy." I said, really at a loss for words. My elegant plan stopped after my entrance and one-liner.

"A guy with a Renamon?" She asked, eyebrow raised, question in her voice.

"Yeah, suppose that's a bit more accurate." I said running my hand through my hair, a habit of mine. "'cept I don't use mine to randomly assault unknowing tamers."

"Whatever." She said, her attitude only _slightly_ showing. "I started a fight, and I'm gonna finish it." She signaled again, and Renamon, who had since returned to Rika's side, leaped again. _The hell you are._ I thought. I quickly looked at Raia, realized she wasn't going to do anything and decided to act very stupidly. While Renamon was mid-attack, I rushed Rika from her blindside, knowing I would severely regret what I was going to do. From behind, I swept my left arm under hers, then my right, and wove my fingers behind her head, putting her in a full nelson. It was hardly a challenge, given I was a gigantic 17-year-old, and she was a somewhat frail girl of 12.

"Hey Re-re!" I said, taunting Renamon and proving myself an asshole. "Look what I got!" Renamon's head snapped straight to me and she did the last thing I expected. She fucking bum rushed me. I loosed Rika, throwing her to the side and brought my arms up to take the impact. Funny how I never felt it. After a moment, I looked past my arms to see Raia in front of me. She was locked in a grapple with Renamon. I stepped back a bit, reaching down to Rika, who was on the ground, but she blew me off and stood. I knew she wasn't hurt, a full nelson never killed anyone and she hardly fell when I dropped her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rika asked, getting up in my face. Well, she tried, given how I had a good foot of height on her.

"You were really going to have her attack a helpless digimon? One who didn't want to fight? I could ask you the same question."

"You grabbed me!"

"You wouldn't call off Renamon!"

"You threw me to the ground!"

"Your Renamon would have killed you if I hadn't and she hit us!"

In the midst of this, I heard a series of smacks. One of the Renamon, at this point I couldn't tell one from another, had gotten the other on the ground and was really laying into her.

"Raia!" I tried experimentally, not sure if I was addressing the right one. Seems I did as the Renamon on top stood and walked to me. I thought I was at least somewhat in the clear, until she smacked me, then phased away. "Damn it."

Renamon stood and clutched her side as she walked to Rika. "You're a monster."

I was surprised to hear that Renamon said that. "You're one to talk. I had no intention of injuring her, but you could have killed us both." Both Rika and Renamon looked away from me, refusing to accept that I wasn't the only one at fault. I opened my mouth to say something, thought better of it, and walked to Takato.

"You ok, kid?" I asked as Takato doted on Guilmon. He nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for helping us."

"You seem to be the only one thanking me." I said, glaring over my shoulder. "Listen, your friend Henry will be here in a few seconds, so he can help you out." I started to walk away.

"Wait!" Takato called out. "Who are you?"

"My name's Caleb. You'll be seeing more of me, don't worry." I continued to walk and called over my shoulder. "And make sure Rika and her Renamon are alright!"

**(Break)**

After a long, _long_ walk, I finally reached home. I assumed Raia came back here, because… well, where else would she go?

I entered the house to find her curled up on the couch, eyes red and tears staining her fur. _Shit._ _Me and my dramatic bullshit at work once again._ I knew that I should have just explained my feelings before, but I was too upset at the time.

I sat down next to her curled form and received a harsh push in the side from her foot for my efforts. I decided persistence would aid me best here. I pulled myself closer to her, only to be pushed again. We repeated this cycle a couple more times before I got an idea. I walked around behind the couch, hooked a leg over, and lifted myself onto it from behind, wedging myself down between Raia and the back of the couch. She refused to go off the couch, as I hoped she would, leaving me pinned between her furry mass and the couch. I slid one arm beneath her, and threw my other over her and brought her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry." I said softly. "I just… I was afraid to tell you."

"What?" I heard the cracks in her voice, it was obvious she'd been crying heavily. "Tell me what?"

"That I care about you."

She grunted and I decided to try again.

"I mean that I really care about you. Raia, I like you in a different way than a friend. As something more. I got mad before because… I was afraid I was left out to dry again. Being just _friends_" I sneered on the word, "when I really wanted to be more than that. It hurts to be suppressed like that. I just… I just wanted you to understand." I closed my eyes, feeling them begin to mist up. I'd done it again. I'd fucked up again. Another friendship gone because I couldn't keep my feelings down. Another time I'd broken my own heart.

All these thoughts were plaguing my mind, slowly killing me with the knowledge I'd fucked up again, huge this time, but then two words shattered them.

"Prove it."

I couldn't believe my ears. God _damn_ this duplicity.

"How?" I asked, feeling myself retrace painful footsteps, following a path that leads to only my sadness.

She rolled, facing me now. "Kiss me." Her words echoed in my mind. _The duality stops here,_ I told myself. _I won't make the same mistake._

Drawing my arms in on her, I pulled her ever closer and dipped my head to hers. My lips connected with hers and I saw a flash of silver. Just a faint touch, but it left us hungry. Seeing the pleading in her reddened eyes, I dove back in, pressing into her and tightening my pull. Silver flooded my mind as it overflowed with joy and ecstasy. This feeling was unlike any other I'd felt. The more I pressed, the more silver occupied all the space in my mind not being filled by the sensory overload caused by the beautiful beast pressed into me. I never wondered why silver, but later I would know.

**(Break)**

We'd fallen asleep, huddled together on the couch, so I was unsurprised when I could not move when I woke up. I didn't move though, didn't wake her, and just nuzzled in a bit closer and lay watching her face, peaceful as she slept. After some time she woke as well, but something caught my eye. When she first opened her eyes, I could swear I caught a hint of crimson, yet her eyes were the usual beautiful ice blue when she blinked them. I decided that I was just still tired and I was seeing things.

She held my gaze for a moment, then closed her eyes again. I sighed inside myself. As much as I wanted to just leave her to her peace and watch her sleep, I couldn't very well survive in the world with a lazy digimon. I had to have the resolve to force her to have resolve, I was her tamer after all.

"Rai?" I said gently, noting a nose twitch and a light flutter of the eyelids. She was awake, we both knew that. "Come on, we had to get up. Something important is gonna happen, and we have to be there." She groaned a bit, but relinquished her grip on me and allowed me to stand. I stroked the side of her face for a moment before turning to the bathroom, grabbing a second set of clothes along the way. I stripped down, got in the shower, and quickly washed myself. I tried to relax under the hot water while still being quick, but I couldn't shake a paranoia of being watched. It dissipated quickly though, when I saw a golden-yellow flash out of the corner of my eye. _Damn it. _I thought as I rinsed my hair. _As much as I'm flattered, boundaries gotta be set._ I left the shower and pulled on my clean clothes before brushing my teeth and leaving.

As I walked out of the bathroom, I saw Raia was _ever so casually_ sitting outside of it. I gestured for her to follow me.

"Alright there, Miss Curious, let's go." She blushed, I'm sure of it, but I never looked to be certain. "We need to have a talk on the way to where we're going.


	4. Chapter 4

We walked outside and Raia took my hand, as usual, but I shook my head. She dropped my hand.

"We're in no hurry." I said. "We have plenty of time, plus it's a nice enough day to have a walk and talk about things." In actuality, the sky was grey and full of clouds, the wind was cooler than comfort for most, and it seemed the heavens were ready to burst into a torrent of tears. Maybe a dreary day for some, but perfect for me.

Raia sighed, knowing where this was going. I took her hand and we began to walk.

"Raia, I know that you feel more comfortable now that our feelings are out on the table, but we still need some boundaries." I said as we strode through the cool air. "We aren't to that point yet. I'll open myself slowly, naturally, and I hope you do the same. It's easy to, but you have to remember only fools rush in." Mentally, I slapped myself, even though she wouldn't know who I was referencing.

She sighed and blushed. "I-uh, I'm sorry about that."

I stroked down her back, making sure to keep my hand from going too far, lest I make a hypocrite out of myself. "It's fine, really it is. I take it as a compliment, but I don't want to have you wanting that when it won't come for a while."

She stopped walking and turned to me. The air swept around us, holding me in a cool embrace. Her face stood out clearly against the dark gunmetal skies. "How long will I wait?" She cocked her head sideways, a sadness in her eyes breaking my heart. I tried to resist an urge, fearing I'd lose my point, but I couldn't hold the line.

"Not long." I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers and even angels seemed to cry over us as the first drips of a heavy cleansing rain fell upon us.

I broke from her and looked to find a gleam of happiness in her eyes. "Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."

**(Break)**

After some searching, we found that parking structure where Terriermon would digivolve. My problem was that I knew I'd be involved, and I had to make sure he did digivolve, or the continuity would start to break on me.

"Alright Rai, we have to be careful, Rika and Renamon are probably in here too." I whispered. We were hiding behind pillars, and I was hoping to God I didn't start a fight before it was needed.

Raia nodded, positioning herself so as to not be seen.

"Guilmon stop! Right now! I need to stop cutting out of gym class." I motioned toward Raia, signaling to be ready.

"It's you again!" Which meant Rika was here.

"Can't get anything past you can I, boy? Are you ready to fight this time? Is your little dinosaur- huh?" My heart skipped a beat. "What is it?"

Very faintly, I heard someone say "I smell something."

"What?"

"That crazy man and his Renamon are here. I can smell her."

"How do you smell data, Renamon?"

"I don't. I smell pheromones."

"Like the kind animals make when they…" That was Takato, and I assumed he made a hand gesture.

I heard an audible slap, probably Rika facepalming. "Yes, gogglehead."

"What kind of whore is she?" Renamon said that. My eyes went wide, my fists clenched, my blood boiled. I was beyond pissed.

I swung out from behind the pillar. "The fuck did you just say?!" Everyone was looking at me now. I started to rush forward, carrying my momentum from the pillar. I was moving pretty quick for a guy my size, so it was no surprise when I managed to take Renamon to the floor when I tackled her.

I started laying into her, not caring where my blows lay, only that they hit. I swung, full force, harder than I'd ever had, filling every violent fantasy I'd ever had. She wasn't just the thing that had offended me, she was _every _thingthat had _ever_ offended me, all the anger I had was coming out. I couldn't tell you how long I was beating her down, but eventually, she managed to roll me off of her.

I scrambled to my feet, staying low in my stance, ready to charge again. She took the initiative, though, quickly plodding, heavy-footed, straight at me. I resisted my urge to meet her charge, opting instead to sidestep her and come from behind. As I passed her and twisted, I saw another target, Terriermon; my blood ran cold and my rage left me. Henry had just happened to walk in, probably hearing the commotion, and he had Renamon charging him. Before anyone could react, even Renamon, Terriermon launched from Henry's shoulder to meet Renamon, to protect his tamer. Physics told me the little guy never had a chance.

_Momentum is mass times the change in velocity_. The equation buzzed in my mind. Terriermon was less than a quarter of Renamon's mass, and he sure as hell wasn't going four times faster than her. He took the hit, flying back over Henry's shoulder into the wall.

Everything froze. The dust settled and it happened. Terriermon started digivolving. I watched carefully, noticing the details the series left out. Terriermon was stripped of his skin and raw code was exposed. The code, strings, hooks, variables, expanded and morphed to fit his new form, then the skin rematerialized. As I watched, one thought crossed my mind. _I can do that._ That would have to wait. I twisted back, looking and finding Raia across the garage. She did the responsible thing and ran to protect Takato and keep Guilmon back. I gestured for her to come to me.

"We have to get him down!" I shouted to… well, everyone. "He's not in control!" As if on cue, the newly formed Gargomon started going nuts with his gats. Bullets were whizzing everywhere, a couple right by my head. My head snapped back to Gargomon and I hit the floor so I wouldn't get hit.

I saw Renamon dashing Henry to safety and I started to crawl to Gargomon. "Christ, man!" I screamed over the blazing machine guns. "Learn to fucking aim!"

Raia ran at me, slid to the floor and pulled me along the floor with her, a feeling I was honestly getting too familiar with. We collided with Gargomon, taking out his legs. Thinking quick, I flipped on top of him, pinning his arms down.

"Stop FREAKING shooting!" I yelled, earning a sheepish grin from Gargomon.

**(Break)**

Gargomon had gotten a hold of himself, so the chaos died off. Rika was still shooting me dirty looks, but I hardly cared. Takato, and to a lesser extent Guilmon, seemed happy that everything stopped being crazy, and Henry was trying to get Gargomon to de-digivolve. Raia was standing beside me, seeming pretty relieved, probably wanting to head home. _Soon,_ I thought to myself. _Just need to finish up here._

_Please hurry, then._ OK, what the hell? _Mental link._ I heard pang in my head.

_We'll talk about this later._ I saw her smile a bit. Smug little… damn mental link, can't even think freely anymore.

Henry left with Takato, who was trying to help him with Gargomon, but I was preoccupied. Renamon was looking at me rather strangely, and I needed to know why.

"Rika, can you give us a moment?" Renamon asked her tamer. Rika simply obliged her, showing no protest at being ordered by her partner, a sign of just how shaken she was.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, crossing my arms with a bit of irritation.

"You," She said, seeming to act as if were alone, like Raia wasn't there, "Have impressed me."

"Oh really?" I said, caustic. "I am so honored."

She ignored this. "You are a fighter. I misjudged you. Despite what Rika may think, your defense of your partner and your bravery, though perhaps foolish, has impressed me. Not many humans would stand up to, let alone match, a digimon, especially one of my caliber." Well, no one ever said she wasn't confident.

"Well, thanks." I said, somewhat genuine. "I respect your ability to make peace with me. Most wouldn't swallow their pride."

"The feeling is mutual, then." She looked over to Rika, who obviously was badly shaken up at the chaos from earlier and needed to get home. "I have to go. I look forward to fighting alongside you and your partner in the future." I was surprised that she included Raia. Maybe she noticed how strong Raia really was.

"Same to you." I said, turning and leading Raia out.

We walked for a bit and started to talk.

"I think she might be afraid of you." I said.

"She should be. You can kick her ass, and I can definitely kick yours." She said with a smirk.

"Oh, really?" I said with a laugh. "First off, I hardly kicked her ass. I _managed_, but that's good enough for me. Second, we'll see about who can kick whose ass later. Thirdly, when did you open a mental link with me?"

"After we got home last time." She said flatly.

"Before or after the kissing?"

"After." She said with a smile.

Noticing her smile, I said. "Glad to see you enjoyed it."

"Almost as much as I enjoyed watching you do something very stupid to defend me."

"Hey," I said, "No one insults my friends, and you're a very special friend."

"Special how?" She said, stopping and smiling.

"I don't do this with any of my other friends." I said, and I brushed my mouth against hers. "Seems pretty special to me."

I couldn't see it, but her expression told me she was blushing.

"Come on," I said, starting to walk again, "We have one more stop before home."

**(Break)**

We stopped by a card store and I picked up several packs of cards so that I could modify Raia if necessary. I looked through the cards briefly as we walked the rest of the way home.

We walked inside and I set the cards in a stack on the counter.

"Raia," I said, questioningly. "Do we have a computer?" She nodded and led me to the one room out of the 6 or 7 in the house that I hadn't been in. I opened the door and saw a welcome sight. First, I saw my desk chair from home, then my desk, my monitor, and finally, my PC tower.

"No freaking way." I said. "Can't be." I walked over, sat down and saw that even my headset was there. I turned the computer on and turned to Raia while it booted.

"What?" She asked, very confused by the look of it.

"This is my computer." Her expression didn't change. "This is _my_ computer, from my home. My world."

"Is that good?"

"Yes," I said, returning to the computer. "Very, very good." Everything was the same, from my desktop setup to my wallpaper cycle. I slid open one of the drawers and found my USB flash drive and opened a fresh Notepad++ file. I turned back to Raia, confused as ever.

I looked at the flash drive and back at her. "Here, touch this." I said, holding the drive out to her, prong first. She touched her paw to the metal prong and spark jumped from her to it. I grinned and turned back to the computer, plugging the drive in and bringing it up onscreen. Sure enough, there was a notepad file and I dragged it onto the Notepad++ window, which quickly filled with lines upon lines of code.

"Is that…" she started.

"Yep." I said. "That's you. That's your source code."

"What does this mean?"

"It means I can reprogram you. I can add functions, powers, abilities, hell, even full-on digivolutions. This gives us an insane edge… but…" I turned to her. "I have to know, are you okay with that? I mean, it would benefit you, but I'd be changing you at the core. You'll still be you, just different in form. I can't access your personality or anything of that sort through this code. This is just the Renamon source code; basically, I can't overwrite you."

She paused for a moment, seeming nervous before reassuring herself. "Yeah. I'm okay with it, especially if it will help us fight."

"Trust me, it will." I stood, closing the window and flicking off the monitor. "But I'm too tired to tackle that right now. Why don't we just go relax on the couch?" She nodded and followed me out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

I clicked on the TV and hopped on the couch and Raia glared at me.

"And just where am I supposed to sit?" She asked. Given, I was taking up the whole couch, but that didn't mean she didn't have a place to sit.

I simply gestured down my body, grinning like an idiot.

She took me up on the offer, to my surprise, and planted herself on my stomach.

"For someone who wants to move slowly in a relationship," She said, shifting on top of me, "You sure are an incorrigible flirt."

"Yeah, well…" I said. "You're one to talk, wiggling on top of me like this."

I turned my head and let my eyes rest on the TV, just relaxing. At some point, my hands came up and wrapped over Raia's stomach, which earned me a lick to the face, which I enjoyed a _bit_ too much.

A bit later, we were still there, watching a movie now, but she wouldn't stop shifting around. Unfortunately for me, she was putting pressure and friction in just the right places.

"What the hell is that?" She asked.

"Uh… what?" I said, trying to sound innocent.

"Something is poking me in the ass."

I remained silent, unable to think of any excuse.

"It's you, isn't it?"

"Uh…"

"Right then." She said, rolling just wrong, bending "me" over myself.

"Ow! Shit, that hurts!" She shifted again.

"Control yourself better then."

"You're mean." I said, pouting like a child.

"Yeah, well…"

"You know, as much as I love the sarcasm," I said, feeling I was treading ice. "Could you not be so mocking? I mean, damn, you keep stealing all the shit I say."

She sat up and I pulled my legs from underneath her. She sort of… bit her lip and started speaking kind of flirty, the way women do when they're trying to work a guy over.

"Maybe I should talk like this, then." She let a sultry tone overtake her voice.

My expression fell. "Don't." I said in as monotone of a voice as possible.

"Why?" She dragged the syllable out and started to press up against me.

"Because," I said, tone unwavering as I tried to shift from her. "I said don't."

"Hmm." She hummed, the tone coming through it. "Am I making you nervous?"

I didn't respond. She kept pressing into me, and I tried to remain stoic, but soon I lost my patience.

I stood up and walked to the front door and pulled on my hoodie.

"What are you doing?" She asked. I didn't respond, just walked through the door and never stopped moving.

**(Break)**

It was raining, hard. Visibility was shit, but I didn't mind, I'd have rather not been seen. Tears rolled down my face, but they were invisible through the rain. I was soaked, wet to the marrow, but I didn't care. I just kept walking, didn't know, didn't _care_ where I went. My thoughts raced, but my brain felt sluggish, like it was running in place; moving fast and getting nowhere. I hated this. Despite what I thought, the similarities were there. I had to question, was she created for me, or created _from_ me?

I knew she was following me. I doubt she knew of my silent tears. I doubt she knew what she did. I don't doubt she'd feel bad. I doubted she'd ever stop me. So, like before, I made the move; I stopped myself.

I must have looked strange, just standing there in the rain, but before long, I felt my body swept from the street. I found myself under a tree, just large enough to divert the torrent. Raia appeared pissed, but her expression changed. She saw my tears, I knew it, and I knew she'd ask.

"What's wrong?" She said, sternly, as she took hold of my shoulders.

I wanted to dodge the question. I wanted to lie. But I didn't. "So much." That was the most truth I could bear.

She looked as if she'd speak again, so I cut her off. I took hold of her sides, pulled her into me and wrapped my arms around her as tight as I could, letting the tears flow, as they never did.

We leaned against the tree, standing, with her stroking my hair despite me towering over her. Towering, yeah, I felt _real _big. I was tiny in my mind, in reality as I cried like a child. _I_ was the one who was supposed to comfort. _I _was the one who had to stay strong. But this was a break in me, a break that never fused back right.

I can't really say how long we were there. I doubt it was much more than ten minutes, because eventually I broke from her embrace and looked her in the eyes, tears glazing over mine, as I searched for something to say.

She didn't let me though, she decided to initiate. "Caleb, what's wrong? Please, just tell me. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do."

I sighed. "Alright." I said, sitting on the surprisingly dry ground. "Sit down. I have a story to tell you."

She sat, but a worried expression came over her which refused to leave.

**(Break)**

I'd like to think that I'm a nice guy. Maybe a bit out there, I get a bit crazy occasionally, but I've been told I'm a good person. I've never been friends with a lot of people, though, and it's my fault. I never talk to anyone. Those I do, people who are somewhat like me, pretty quiet, seem to like me, but there's a fairly large, glaring exception. Girls.

Yes, I am, to put it in my favorite terms, "One lonely bastard". I've meet only a few girls who act decent to me, only two of which I really tried to start a relationship with. The first was an utter failure, I was turned down and given a crappy excuse. No scorn carried, I got over it. The second was a lot more messy.

She was a friend of a friend, sounds like I was set up, and I was, in a way. The catch was that she was in a relationship. She was taken, but I was told by a couple of people, conveniently a couple themselves, that she liked me in a "more-than-friends" way when I expressed similar feelings toward her, but not to her. I, like always, was content to suffer as a result of my inability to initiate, but this time it wasn't my choice. I was told, forced really, to talk to her, become friends. We did and we talked. I was somewhat hopeful.

But then, I saw the noose around my feet. She asked me if I had feelings for anyone at the time, and I froze. I went crazy in my head, but trudged on. I told her I did, for her. She was surprised, and we both lost it, knowing she couldn't reciprocate, even though she wanted to. She was told I liked her by one of our mutual friends, who laid the aforementioned noose around my feet, leaving this girl to pull the rope.

We became close. I was stupid, I was too close. I began to love her, and she tried her best to imply she did without saying it, to avoid infidelity in her mind. It was bliss and heartbreak every day. I should have left, she should have too. If she'd cared about me, she'd have never let it happen. Eventually, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. I told her we had to stop. It wasn't fair to either of us. So, I ended it. It hurt, but I knew it was right. Nothing good can come from such lies.

She told me, the night I told her I liked her, to prove it.

"_How?" I asked._

"_Kiss me."_

"_I can't. I-I… I just can't."_

She said she understood. It was hard. She knew. She understood. But boundaries were never her forte. She liked to tease me, speak and act like a temptress to get under my skin. I hated how well she could screw with me.

"_Don't you like it when I talk like this?" She said as I sat silent, gulping air down my throat in an attempt to control myself._

"_No…" I choked out._

"_Why?" She kept on, "Does it make you __**nervous**__?"_

**(Break)**

The rain kept pouring down, harder and harder. Raia looked totally shocked. She shouldn't have to trouble herself over this, it's my fault I'm not over it.

"It's not your fault." I said, solemn. "I should be over it by now."

"No," She choked, tears flowing down the slicked fur under her eyes. "I care about you. I want you to be happy. But I don't want to leave you. I can change. She wasn't willing to."

"No." I said "She wasn't. She was selfish. I really doubt she ever cared."

Raia sniffled through her tears, as did I. I pulled her in. This is where I was comfortable. Me keeping her happy.

"All I want," she said, "is for you to be happy."

I smiled as silver haze came around my vision. "Come on, Raia. Let's go home."

**(Break)**

We re-entered the house, soaking wet. I went to the bathroom and stripped off my hoodie and jeans, grabbing dry clothes and a towel. When I returned, I saw Raia standing on the tile of the entryway, a large puddle forming around her feet. I smiled, admiring how she looked.

"You know," I said, walking over, "You're pretty cute when you're waterlogged." She didn't respond, just moved her arm over my head before squeezing the fur of her forearm with the other hand, raining water over me. I managed to get the towel up to catch most of the water, but she actually got my hair _wetter_ than it already was.

"Just dry me off." She said. I should have just handed her the towel, but I opted for drying her off myself, as she requested. I took the towel in both hands and began to briskly rub her all over, starting from the arms, not unlike how I had used to with my golden retriever. The fur, though dry, began to fluff up as I worked my way around her. I got to her face, which I gently fluffed, rather than the brisk treatment I'd given her arms and shoulders. I worked around her stomach, enjoying the feel of the firm muscle underneath. From there, I worked farther down, but I paused just as I finished her stomach.

"Why did you stop?" She asked.

"Erm…" I was trying to find an "eloquent" way to word my predicament. "Well… you see… I kinda have to... uh…"

She followed my gaze and flushed red enough for me to see through her fur. "Oh."

"Yeah… so I should just…"

"Just go slow." She said. My jaw dropped a bit.

"I-if you say so." I stuttered a bit.

I fluffed down her flanks and around her paws and ankles. Easy part's over.

I sighed, opting to take the most "natural" route possible to not seem a pervert. I reached for her tail and grabbed it, squeezing out some water. I began to fluff it from the end with the towel, working down to the base. I decided to try to make quick work of her ass, rubbing it somewhat roughly, which unfortunately forced a noise out of her the likes of which made both of us uncomfortable.

The noise, which I refuse to describe in more detail than that, reminded me she wanted me to go slow. _Goddamn it, I've never done this before!_ I thought.

I started from the knee and worked up the inner thigh, resulting in more noises from her. It might make me seem a bit weird, to be uncomfortable, but I guarantee you any guy who says he wouldn't be is talking a bigger game than he's got. Finished with one side, I started and finished the other. _Now… the last bit,_ I remember thinking. I once again abandoned her request for a slow pace, quickly fluffing up between her legs, resulting in a visible shudder from her.

Now finished with my _infinitely_ uncomfortable task, I draped the towel on a nearby rack and turned back to Raia. Who had the look of a tiger eyeing a piece of meat blazing wildly in both eyes.

"Oh crap." I ever-so-wisely uttered, before she tackled me. Looking back, I'm really glad I dried her off. It'd been a _hell_ of a mess if I hadn't.


	6. Chapter 6

I was on the couch again when I woke up. Raia was on top of me. We'd gotten kinda into it and I'd decided there was less of a chance of breaking something if we were on the couch.

I really just wanted to lay there; I was tired and I didn't want to wake her up. Life hates me too much for that though.

My digivice began to go off, but I simply ignored it. Can't mess with the plotline too much, I thought, shit'll start getting messy.

Instead, I woke up Raia, let her complain about having to move, and went to my computer. It was already on, I never turn it off, so I plugged in earbuds and started up some music. As much as I hate using earbuds, I was minus a headset, so I had no choice.

I pulled up Raia's src and set Notepad++ to a couple different codes, but none of them really looked like they made sense. I was confused and slightly irritated because, without a proper code guideline, I was bound to fuck something up. As I puzzled over this, I minimized the window to switch songs, and I noticed a new icon, sticking out in the middle of my desktop. I knew I hadn't put it there because I put all my icons in the corners of the screen so I could see my wallpapers. DIDE was the name of the program, with a blue square with a static noise pattern over it as the icon. Confused even more and feeling a bit adventurous, I went against my better judgment and opened it. A window opened with a header-line that read "Digimon Integrated Development Environment" on the bar.

I was surprised. This was a development tool for Digimon code. It must have installed when I'd imported Raia's data. I attempted to open an existing project and clicked Raia's src. The window then split into halves. On the left was a code window with a library database and the right was a 3D render, not unlike a 3D image editor. As I played with the code, I saw changes forming on the render, everything from fur color to extreme augments. I did notice an anomaly in the fur color, which had a string rather than a hex value. It looked like it was set to change under certain circumstances, but the variables used were vague enough that I couldn't tell what they were or even guess at them.

I decided to set it aside, thinking it was probably some extraneous digivolution code. Besides, it's fur color. Hardly affects performance. Instead, I started working on a few moves and effects, which I either embedded into Raia's moveset or wrote to my digivice, which I had discovered could be connected and also contained Raia's code. The digivice could then write the codes onto any card I swiped through it, allowing me to create custom cards, though each had limitations, side effects, or costs based on the effect created.

After messing with the code for a bit, I'd created a few new moves, augmented a few cards, and generally just got a feel for the construction of a digimon. Honestly, I walked away with the best headache of my life. It was all so confusing, yet I managed to grasp it to some extent. These coders knew what they were doing.

I walked back out to find the couch unoccupied. Hmm. Bad sign. Knowing how Raia had been acting, she was probably up to some mischief.

I flicked on the TV for some noise in the room and relaxed as I waited for my headache to pass. After a while, Raia came back into the room, but she did something strange.

Rather than coming over to sit with me, she opted for another seat a ways away from me. I was curious and slightly worried. Why was she avoiding me? On closer inspection, I noticed she was tense in her posture. Hmm. Someone needed a good poke with the troll stick.

"You cool over there?"

She didn't answer. I gave the question a moment to hang awkwardly before trying again.

"Hey, Raia, you alright?"

Still no response.

"Hey!" I shouted. She snapped her head up and looked at me. "Finally! What's wrong with you?"

She stared for a second before responding. "Nothing." was her terse reply. Something was up.

"Raia, don't lie to me." I said, getting ready to get up. She tensed up quickly and obviously, as if she were about to break into a sprint. "Don't run. Just don't. I'm not pulling some stupid chase shit with you."

She seemed to relax a bit, but when I fully stood up, I barely had time to take a step before she was off like a rocket.

"God damn it, Raia. Why are you running?" I called after her. I thought about following her, but decided against it. I'd never catch her, besides, she had something on her mind, that was clear enough. I figured it was better to let her get her shit straight first.

**(Break)**

A few hours later, Raia stumbled back into the house, literally. Her legs were diced up and she was bleeding from a gash on her arm.

"Raia!" I yelled when I saw her. "What the fuck happened to you!?"

"Got in a fight." She muttered through staggered breaths.

"With what!? A goddamn gang of Champions?" I said as I went for gauze. "Stand still, I need to get those wounds cleaned and wrapped."

As I came back with gauze, I saw she'd sat down and was panting. I walked past her to get a brown bottle out of one of the cabinets.

"What's that?" She spoke through her ragged breathing.

"It cleans wounds, although I don't know if it'll work for you or if you even need it, but it's worth the measure of precaution." I uncapped the bottle and held it over her arm, gesturing for her to hold it out. "This is gonna burn some, but it'll clean the shit outta that cut so I can cleanly bandage it." She nodded briskly, and tensed in preparation for the pain. I gently poured the clear liquid into the gash, being sure not to pour too much. The instant it made contact, the liquid fizzed and Raia ripped her arm back, nearly howling in pain.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" She screamed.

"Hydrogen peroxide. It kills bacteria in a cut and that gash looks shallow enough that it seemed like a good idea to use it." I started to unroll the gauze as I spoke. "Stick your arm back out so I can wrap it. This will hurt too, but it should hurt less." She presented her arm to me and I wrapped gauze tightly around it, just short of cutting off circulation. I then went to work on her legs, sprinkling them with peroxide and wiping the blood out of her fur.

"What the hell happened, Raia?" I asked as I worked on her.

She looked away, trying simply to avoid my gaze.

"Raia , what's wrong? You need to talk to me here."

She mumbled something that I couldn't begin to understand and this evasiveness was starting to piss me off.

"Raia, what the hell is going on with you?" I said, tying off the gauze. "You ran out of here after completely ignoring me and you come back looking like you got the shit kicked out of you. Hell, the only explanation I have to go off of is "got in a fight". What can I do with that?"

She started to cry and I felt remorse begin to nag at me.

"I'm sorry." I couldn't tell you who said it honestly.

"I'm a freak of data." She said finally. "A damn glitch."

"What are you talking about? You're perfectly normal." I said, trying to reassure her.

"No," She choked. Tears soaked ruts in her fur. "I'm a mutt."

A mutt. I honestly couldn't process what I was hearing. I must've repeated her though, because she confirmed it and held one of her arms up.

She pulled off an arm guard to reveal a large patch of silver fur that the guard barely concealed, sleek and shiny, in contrast to her fluffy yellow fur.

"What the hell…"

"I told you," she said. "I'm just a shitty batch of code. Corrupted."

"The hell you are." I said, remembering the string I'd seen before. "This is something that was coded in. The conditions for the change aren't complete though."

She looked at me with newfound hope. "What?"

"Yeah, you're supposed to be that color," I said, gesturing to the patch of silver. "Why you were hatched yellow, I'll never know. Maybe that's how all Renamon are born."

"So," She sniffled. "What are the conditions for the change?"

"I really don't know. The code was vague as all hell."

"Maybe I should look at it." She said, slowly standing. I rose with my shoulder underneath her arm to support her.

"Worth a shot. Come on." I said, slowly walking her through the house.

**(Break)**

I pulled up the file and did a quick search to zero in on the line, finding it in a couple seconds.

"Alright, there it is. What do you make of it?" I asked, leaning back in my chair as she studied the screen.

She blushed a bit and looked away.

"And?" I asked expectantly. "What is it?"

"I… couldn't read it." She said after a pause.

Bullcrap. I could tell she was lying, but given all she'd been through in the past couple hours, I decided to let it slide.

"Alright." I said, resigned. "I guess we'll find out when it happens." She turned to me and nodded.

I stood and walked out of the room with her. "Come on, let's get you to bed, you need to recover." And with that, I limped her to the bed and she sprawled across the sheets like a ragdoll. Looking upon her for the fleeting moment before I laid alongside her, I gave myself plenty of thoughts to fall asleep to. I took note of her form, elegantly outlined against the monochrome of the sheets, and wondered who it was who created her. Such a magnificent beast, one I had all to myself, yet who could think of it? A thousand incredible details an artist would never think of, strength and speed which would defy quantification, beauty and spirit rivaling any muse, who could create this? God? I would have to think, no mortal could create such a thing consciously, without divine inspiration.

My thoughts faded into more mundane topics as my mind began to close up shop. I admired the feel of the bed, not unlike mine at home, for this was my first time using it. I took a few moments to appreciate the warmth and comfort of Raia clutching to me in an almost desperate embrace as she drifted into what I had to hope was a peaceful sleep.

Despite the slowing of my mind, I couldn't fall asleep. It didn't worry me, I was used to it happening, and decided to shift a bit and try to relax. What I ended up doing though, was turn and end up face-to-muzzle with Raia. Tired, bored, and generally not in my right mind, I decided to do a series of things, some of which were probably stupid. First, I drew her closer, letting her wrap herself around me more in her sleep. Second, I sort-of eskimo-kissed her and then gave her a few light kisses. Third, and this is where the stupidity really begins, I think, I kissed her full-on, rousing her from sleep slightly. Her eyes began to flutter open and I'm fairly certain instinct took over from there. At that point, my brain had shut down to the point that I can't really recall and I doubt I was in control of my actions.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up with little knowledge of the previous night, but my clothes appeared to be intact. Raia's face was in front of mine, her eyes shut gently. I was tempted to engage once again, but decided I needed to get up. I rolled out of the bed, stretching from a comfortable night's sleep, and walked to the kitchen. Then I realized we had no food. We'd been living off what little came with the house, and we were out.

I sighed, pondering a solution. An idea struck. Takato's family owned a bread shop, I could go there. It would also give me an excuse to check up on him, see where we were at in the story. I walked out the door and wandered through the streets for a while before finding the place, mostly by chance. I walked in, nearly overwhelmed by the aroma of bread. I ordered a few loaves of various breads and decided to pick up other groceries later. Takato noticed me from the back and gestured for me to come around the side.

I walked outside and into the alley and found Takato out there.

"Hey Takato, what's up?" I said, waving.

"Not too much." he said, "Oh, Guilmon digivolved!"

"Did he now? Didn't give you any trouble like Gargomon, did he?"

"Well, it took a long time for him to become a rookie again, but I'm still happy he can do it!"

I smiled, getting the rough location I needed. "Well, Takato, I can't really stay and talk, I have to get back home."

He nodded and I started on my way back home, remembering the route from before. Before long, I reached home and walked in the door. I shut it and turned back to keep walking, and was greeted with a yellow furry form less than an inch from my face.

"Erm…" Shit. I'd forgotten to tell her where I was going.

"Where did you go in such a hurry that you forgot?" She asked, not moving an inch or even thinking of letting me by.

Damn mental link. "I went to pick up food." I said, raising the bag in my hand for her to see.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, seeming to relax, just a bit.

"You were asleep. You're hurt and you needed rest." I said, placing a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Especially since I kept you up." She blushed, and I took the chance to walk past her.

"Well…" She said, obviously wanting to change subjects, "What did you get?"

I unbagged the food. "Bread."

She looked at me as if I were insane. "Bread. Nothing else? Just bread?"

"I think we have some butter, maybe." I tried my hardest not to smirk, but I think I failed.

She sighed and took a loaf and began munching on it. "Mmm."

I took a loaf and bit off of it. "Damn, no wonder Takato's parents can make a living off this."

Raia nodded. "So, when's the next time we go out?"

I swallowed another bite. "Tonight, I think. Here's how we find the location. The top of a building will be iced over, we have to get in there. It'll be an Icedevimon, and he'll be trying to make Rika give up Renamon and take him as her partner."

Raia scowled. "Why should we care about her?"

I sighed. "We're gonna need her. Mostly for Renamon." Raia didn't seem convinced. "She'll get better, trust me. If I remember right, she's stopped having Renamon load data."

"That's like saying someone's better because they've stopped committing murders."

"I know. Just… deal with her, please? For me?" I gave her a quick hug before continuing to eat.

She sighed. "Fine. I'll tolerate her, for now. But you owe me."

"Mhm. And just how am I to pay you back?"

She gave me a dirty look, which instantly piqued my interest. "I have a couple ideas."

"And I'm supposed to be the incorrigible flirt."

**(Break)**

It was dark out when I saw the blue beam piercing the skyline, and I knew the stage was set. Raia noticed as well, so I placed my hand on her shoulder, and we were off. It took us a bit to reach the frozen rooftop, but when we did, I saw Renamon hadn't shown up, the telling sign being the lack of a hole in the ice.

"Raia, break through the ice, we have to get in there." She nodded, launching a diamond storm at the thick ice, shattering a hole in it. I took a strong hold of her arm and she launched up to it, and Rika call out to us, well Raia more than me.

"I don't believe it." I heard Rika say. "Ahh. The infamous Renamon. I'd love to sit and chat, but I have to destroy you." Another voice called up to us, obviously Icedevimon.

"Eh, not quite!" I called, vaulting through the hole before Raia launched up and tried to use Diamond Storm. I landed rough, but looked up in time to see Raia get swatted just as Renamon had in the series. Horror descended on me as I remembered what nearly happened to Renamon, which, combined with Raia's pre-existing wounds, spelled an unfortunate ending.

He hit her with a Frozen Claw and I saw bits of red flying off of her. She flew across the room, leaking data as she went. I tried to run to where Raia would land, but not only was I too late, she shattered into data upon hitting the ground. I fell to my knees and slid to the data cloud she'd created, shock dominating my face and mind.

"Hmm. So that wasn't yours Rika?" I heard the Icedevimon say before letting out a cackle. "That fight was just a little too easy anyways!" He turned away from myself and the data cloud, although I doubt he ever noticed me. I was beyond words, so I simply stood, my face stoic, and walked to Takato and Henry, and picked up the thing Takato had been using to try to break the ice around Guilmon and Terriermon.

Both Takato and Henry had looks of disbelief on their faces, and Henry went so far as to ask "Are you…" before I cut him off by raising a hand.

"No, I'm not alright. Kindly stay back." I said, my voice calm, but quivering slightly. I stalked over to the Icedevimon, who was still facing the other direction, saying something to Rika. As I got close enough, I brandished the tool and cocked my arms back for a swing. I couldn't quite get to his head, so I aimed for Icedevimon's side.

I swung as hard as I could, doubting it would do anything at all, and screamed "Motherfucker" at the top of my lungs as I struck him. The hit caught him off-guard, throwing him to the side and knocking Rika from his grip.

I quickly looked at her and yelled "Run!" before turning back to the Icedevimon. He recovered from the hit and turned to me.

"Well, what do we have now? First, a weakling, now a human who thinks he's tough?" I swung again, but this time he caught it. I pressed and pulled, but I couldn't break his grip.

"I'm gonna kill you." I practically growled from under my breath, but he heard it.

"Oh, you think so?" He grinned and swung the tool, tossing me away. "I think not."

I hit the wall and scrambled to my feet, instantly trying to rush him again, but I was swatted back as I reached him. Once again, I hit the ice wall, but this time I stayed down and just screamed "Goddamn you!" I saw that Rika had made it over to the other Tamers, and they were still trying to break the ice around their digimon.

He chuckled again and tossed the tool I'd used off to the side. "It would seem I made you mad, although I can't imagine why." One could mistake this for a cynical quip, but what hurt more was that he was genuine. "Care to say why? I'd like to at least know why a human thinks he could match me."

I stood, feeling pain all over from being launched, twice. "I loved her." I said, anger burning through my voice. "And you killed her."

His expression went blank for a moment before he bursted out laughing. "You loved a digimon!? What kind of freak are you!?" He kept laughing, and out of sheer rage, I grabbed the nearest thing and hurled it at him. He pierced it and a liquid sprayed all over him, but I saw that it was a red plastic tank, the sort used to store fuel.

At that moment, Renamon appeared in the hole opposite me, behind Icedevimon. I tried to think quickly and yelled at her, trying to be loud enough to hear.

"Diamond storm! At the ground!" I yelled. Icedevimon turned to see what I was yelling at, just what I needed him to do. Renamon, although probably confused, complied, firing crystal shards at the concrete roof of the building, sending sparks flying at Icedevimon, igniting the gasoline that coated him. He light aflame, severely weakening him due to the counter to his type.

"Eat shit, motherfucker!" I screamed as he fell to the floor. Guilmon, who'd just been freed, launched a Pyro Sphere at him, and ran in, loading his data. I stood, though I was barely able to, and walked to the exit as the digital field faded. I'd just gotten to the group when Renamon asked Rika if she was okay.

"I hate 'em." I heard her say. Renamon reassured her Icedevimon was gone. "Not him. I hate digimon. All of them." That made me stop in my tracks.

"What did you say?" I asked. All of them looked at me now, confused. I turned and walked straight to Rika. "What the hell did you just say?"

"I hate them." She replied, unafraid to look me straight in the eye.

"Why the _fuck_ do you say that? What reason do you have? I just lost the one I love to that piece of shit, but you're the one who hates digimon? Get a fucking grip." I pointed to her digivice. "You're still a tamer, I'm not. Now sack up and act like one." I turned and walked away, similar to how Rika would've. I slowly made my way down the stairwell, but stopped on one of the landings, feeling as if I were being followed. I felt someone touch my shoulder.

"Hands off, please. I don't like to be touched." I said weakly, but the touch never left. Instead, I felt an arm wrap around my stomach and a sensation like Raia's phase shift. I looked up to find myself in a room, back at my home.

"I can stay with you for a while, if you need." Renamon. I wasn't entirely surprised.

"Shouldn't you be with your tamer?" I said, my tone hard and cynical as tears finally broke free.

"She… wishes to be alone. I feel you need me more now." I broke from her and walked to the couch, but didn't turn the TV on as I usually would. Instead, I fell onto the couch, curling up and closing my eyes. I felt the couch depress and my head was pulled into Renamon's lap. Any other time, I'd have thought this to be strange, out of her character, and just unordinary in general, but I honestly didn't give half a shit. "That was near suicidal, attempting to fight a champion."

"How did you know I fought him?"

"How else would you have gotten these injuries?" She began to stroke the side of my head, in an attempt to comfort me. "What possessed you to try?"

"He killed her. Like she was nothing." I began to lose it, tears streaming down my face. "Now she's gone. I have no one."

"I am here." She said, although I doubted she knew what was implied. "You have one, at least."

"You can't be what she was." I said, sitting up and looking at her.

"Can't I?" Renamon said, leaning in to kiss me. Out of sadness, weakness, or just pure fatigue, I didn't resist. I just let it happen as she leaned into me and pulled my legs beneath her.


	8. Chapter 8

My mind felt numb, unthinking, but my body was quite the contrast. Somehow, despite a severe lack of experience, I began to react to Renamon autonomously. She lay on top of me and pressed her muzzle to my face and I pressed back. My arms came around her slender midsection and I held her form tight to me. This was different for me, different from Raia, despite all the perceived similarities. Renamon seemed to have some knowledge, whereas Raia had been almost as green as I was in respect to romance. Renamon was leading here though, a situation I was somewhat accustomed to, given how the few times I _had_ gotten romantic with someone, they had lead by example.

A large paw came up to my face and drifted back behind my head, giving her more leverage to work with. A knee came up to my waist and a leg was pushed beneath mine, effectively entangling us. Renamon's tongue pressed to my lips and they opened. Her tongue was rough against mine, a strange yet exhilarating sensation as it darted around my mouth, across my teeth, and against my own tongue. Through all of this, my body reacted in the usual way, and an erection mounted. Renamon, thankfully, in retrospect, ignored it and continued to assuage my other needs.

My hands began to drift along her lithe form, my fingers gliding smoothly through the sea of fur that covered her. I noticed certain regions, like the undersides of her arms, the area opposite the shoulders, and beneath her mane, around where her breasts would form, had finer, softer fur, where other areas, like down her lower back and along her neck, the fur was thicker and more slicked.

I'm not entirely sure how long we lay there, in a woven embrace and sharing a kiss, but eventually, the kiss was broken and I felt sorrow emanate from my core as I was filled with memories of Raia. We remained entwined and I pressed my face into the crook of Renamon's neck as tears welled once more.

"You can try to be her, but we both know you can't do it." I said as the first tears broke free and slid down my skin. "Even if you replace her romantically, you have a tamer, and I'm not one anymore." As if to prove my point, I retrieved my digivice from my pocket and saw the screen was shattered. I tried to turn it on, but it wouldn't wake. Disappointed at a last hope, I dropped it onto the couch and began to really cry.

"I'm not so sure. Rika seems dead set on her hatred of digimon."

"She'll come around. I know she will." I sighed, trying to keep my voice stable. "She really does care about you."

"How would you know?" I heard a crack in Renamon's normally level tone. Damn it, now I'd gotten _her_ worked up.

"I'd eat dirt before I'd let Renamon become what you are. A monster." I quoted, tightening the embrace slightly. "She said that to that piece of shit when he was trying to convince her to be his tamer. She cares."

There was silence for a time, and it was surprisingly comfortable. I could feel how Renamon and I needed each other. She needed reassurance and I just needed _someone_. I knew the silence had to be broken, though. It was comfortable because it needed to be stopped, because we weren't saying any of the difficult things that had to be said.

I sighed. "If you need, I can help you become stronger in the interim. Rika will come back the light after some time, but you'll need to keep fighting."

Renamon held me tighter. "I think… I…"

"Shh." I said, stroking her back. "Just sleep. We need to rest, and we'll talk in the morning."

**(Break)**

My eyes flicked open as the morning light came upon them, and my movement woke Renamon. I smiled softly, basically forced to look her in the ice blue eyes.

"Morning." I said, giving her a squeeze, as we were still entangled. "So, do I make a comfortable bed?"

She smiled and I think I saw some blush, but I could never be sure. "I'm sorry, about last night."

"No problem, really. I definitely didn't mind." I began to loose myself from her. "So, I said we'd talk about "it" in the morning. What do we need to talk about?"

By this point, we were separated and she'd scooted a bit away to give me space. "Well, Rika doesn't seem to want me around." She said, her eyes taking on a look of sadness.

"You'll stay here." I said, my voice disallowing even slight defiance. "Rika will come back around, but it will be a few days. In that time, you can stay with me, and I can train with you."

She looked at me with hope in her eyes. _Goddamn it, what have I started?_ I banished the heresy, knowing I felt an obligation to help, and that's what I intended to do. I heard her whisper something, "thank you" I think, but I couldn't be certain. She pulled me into an embrace and I returned it.

"Well," I said standing. "I guess I'm proving the old saying right. 'Those who can't, teach.'" I smiled and lead Renamon to area outside, in what you could call the backyard, although it wasn't much of one. I set up a beam and brought several bottles from inside the house out and set them equal distance apart.

"What are you doing?" She asked, puzzled. I ignored her question and pulled out my knife as I walked to a nearby tree. It was a large, thick-trunked tree, and I used my knife to carve a large 'X' in it at about my chest level.

Finished, I turned to her and answered. "_We_ are training. Here's what you're going to do. Those bottles, I want you to use single shards from your Diamond Storm to snipe them from a distance." I gestured out into the "backyard", which was little more than an alleyway that was gated off from the house.

"And the tree?"

"You're going to try to increase the size of your shards, and this tree will be your target." I said. "Not much, but it will help." I started walking down the alley, going as far as I could while maintaining a clear shot, and gestured for her to follow.

**(Break)**

A crack broke the intense silence of the empty streets. Then another. I grinned.

"Deadeye." I said, patting Renamon on the back. "You've gotten good over the past few days." I walked with her down the alley and she wove her paw into my hand. She'd been getting somewhat romantic with me over the course of the week or so we'd been training, and given the recent loss, I wasn't against it.

We reached the tree and Renamon fired off a crystal as thick as my arm and pierced the tree. I walked over to it and yanked it out of the tree.

"Damn, the largest yet." I turned to her and waved the crystal as evidence. "I think you're ready for a fight." She smiled and embraced me tight.

"Thank you."

"Hell, I didn't do anything, it's all you." I said, smiling and proud of her. "Come on, it's getting dark, and I'm tired."

I walked with her all the way to my room and stopped at the door. She looked back and frowned slightly.

"Will please come here?" She asked, obviously unhappy. I'd been making her sleep in my bed while I took the couch so that we wouldn't do anything stupid.

I sighed. "You know what? Alright. You've earned it." I walked to the bed and sat down on it. "But nothing funny alright? I don't trust myself."

She smiled as I slid into the bed. "After my display out there, you dare think I don't have control?"

I pulled the sheets over myself and her. "It's not you I don't trust." I said, burying my head in the pillow and drifting to sleep.

**(Break)**

I was swimming in an inky black, dark light breaking through weak spots. I felt no fear, but I sure as hell wasn't comfortable. A chuckle roared throughout the space, dominating every inch. I looked around for a source, seriously doubting I'd find one.

"Who's here?" I asked, feeling a bit stupid as I thought I'd receive no answer.

"I am." Raia was suddenly in front of me, her limbs disappearing into the darkness as if she were fused to it.

"Raia!" I called out in surprise. "You're alive?"

"You abandoned me." She said, her voice slightly distorting. "You abandoned me!"

"What the hell are you talking about!? You're dead! Or you were!"

"You abandoned me!" Her voice corrupted with distortion until she began to sound like the laughing voice.

"No, I didn't!"

"You abandoned me, just like I knew you would!" Her voice cut the air and felt like it was shattering me.

"What do you mean?" I screamed, trying to make my voice heard over the boom of hers echoing.

"You left! You gave me no chance!" I started to see what was happening.

"No! You died! I didn't leave you! I still love you!"

She laughed, nigh shattering my eardrums. "You left me like any other! I was vulnerable and you abandoned me!"

"No!" I screamed, "I lost you! I still love you!"

Horns shot from her skull and blood flowed from her mouth as she laughed. I began to struggle, suddenly feeling restricted.

"Let me out!" I screamed, and shot up, my eyes snapping open.

I looked around, seeing the bedroom. Renamon was in front of me and had me by the shoulders.

"Are you alright?" She said, clearly shaken.

I brought a hand to my face and tried to clear my head. "Ugh… I think so."

"You were having a nightmare." She said and started stroking my back.

"No, I wasn't." I said, looking up to her. "I don't have nightmares anymore."

"What do you mean? Everyone has nightmares."

I shook my head. "No, this wasn't a nightmare. Nothing my mind makes up can do that. Someone got into my head."

"What was happening?" Renamon asked, embracing me lightly. "Can you talk about it?"

"Yeah. It was Raia." A sharp intake of breath could be heard. We hadn't talked about Raia since she'd died. It didn't bother me though. I don't mourn for long. "She kept saying I'd abandoned her. That's the thing. Someone has to be trying to get to me."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't feel guilt about this." I said, gesturing between me and her. "I miss her immensely, I wish she could come back, but I know she can't. I can't let memories of her keep me from forming new ones. I've learned that already."

"How can you say that? I thought you loved her!" She said, shocked by what I'd said.

"Because, I know that if I spend my time grieving and not moving on, I'll get nowhere!" I said, tears beginning to spring to my eyes. "Don't doubt for a minute that I miss her! But you and I avenged her death! She and I wanted the other to be happy, and if I sit around crying about it, I can't progress with you!"

Renamon was in tears and I felt like such shit by this point. "What is it that we have?" She said quietly, tears wetting the fur beneath her eyes.

"Renamon, I… I think…" I said leaning toward her, and I began to press my mouth to hers. She pushed back and we let what would happen, happen. I pressed my lips to hers and held her tightly. After a moment, I broke contact and spoke again. "I think I love you."

Her eyes filled with tears again and she pushed her face into mine once more. "I do too." We pulled into each other, embracing and kissing deeply.

I have no idea what time I'd woken up at, but we feel asleep again and I certainly slept more pleasantly the second time around.


	9. Chapter 9

My eyes drifted open and I embraced a form next to me; my vision slowly coming into focus, giving a steadily clearer picture. I smiled, seeing the familiar curves and fluff, but I didn't think of Raia immediately. I smiled wider, hoping this is what she would've wanted, for me to be happy.

"Well, good morning." Renamon said teasingly, as I'd appeared to have woken her.

"Did I actually wake you up or was that just a line?" I asked rhetorically as she rolled over, a smile gracing her lips.

"Hmm." She leaned in for a kiss, lightly pressing her lips to mine. "Quite the smile you have. Are you that happy to see me?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." I pulled her close to me, pulling the sheets up over our shoulders. "I used to dream of rolling over to a pretty girl, but damn, you over shot that by a pretty good measure."

I felt her giggle a bit. "I bet you say that to all the girls." I smiled softly and wondered where the hell she picked up that old line.

"Only sometimes." I said. We lay there for a bit and I felt myself falling back asleep. "So, how long are we gonna lie here?"

She said nothing and quickly climbed out of the bed, pulling me with her. I took a moment to get my feet under me and lead her out into the kitchen to make some breakfast.

"Hungry?" I asked, approaching the fridge. I noticed Raia's digivice on the counter and noticed it still somewhat functioned. Good thing in case Renamon didn't catch the emergences. I stared at it for a moment, and I could have sworn the cracks had been bigger before, but I put it out of my mind.

"A bit." She said, leaning over the fridge door, peering into it alongside me. I made note of her statement and pulled out the eggs, a full dozen.

"How do eggs sound?"

"Fine." I nodded and pulled out the largest pan I could find. I opened the egg carton and pulled out three eggs and set them aside. I started up the stove, greased the pan, and cracked the remaining nine eggs into it, one-by-one. Renamon walked over and looked at the pan.

"Think this will be enough?" I asked.

"Do you have a toaster?"

"Yeah, how many slices do you want?"

"Three, please, and butter."

I complied and pulled the toaster out, and began to toast four slices, two at a time. Soon the eggs were finished and I'd put salt and pepper on them. I started the remaining three, cooking them the same, aside from copious amounts of hot sauce.

I took the plates over to the table with a container of butter. We took our time eating, and I watched Renamon methodically eat. She somehow combined grace and speed, wolfing down her nine eggs as quick as I did my three.

"So, how were they?" I asked a moment after we'd both finished eating.

"Good, but I could smell the spice on yours across the table." I smiled.

"I like hot stuff, sorry." I said, stretching a bit. "Well, we need to be ready for the emergence today. That's your chance to get back with Rika." Her expression dropped a bit and I got worried.

I stood and led her to the couch and turned on the TV; we sat down and she leaned her head on my shoulder.

"What's wrong? You don't look happy." I said, concern strong in my voice despite my attempts to downplay it.

"I just… don't know." She said, her voice straining slightly.

I sighed. "This is about me isn't it?" She nodded. "You're torn between me and Rika?"

"I miss her, but she doesn't want me, I can feel it. Being with you, I don't know that I want to even _try_ to go back to her."

I heavily sighed again. "Goddamn it." I stroked her head and she clung to me a bit. "I know it sucks, but she is your tamer. We can't break you two up just because of how you feel about me." I wondered though, deep in my heart, about how it would be to keep her with me, to be her tamer, but I quickly banished the thoughts deep into me, knowing there was no way it could happen.

Her ears perked and I saw a light from the broken digivice hit the ceiling in the other room. I rose, bringing her with me.

"This isn't it, but maybe a fight could take your mind off of it." Secretly, I knew Rika would be here and the plot would get messed up if we didn't show up.

**(Break)**

We arrived at the digital field and I hung back, outside the field and told Renamon to go ahead. She started to fight and was succeeding when Henry arrived.

"Hey Henry." I said. "Hi Terriermon."

Terriermon waved an ear at me and Henry watched the fight.

"Why are you here?" Henry asked. "Not that you can't be, it's just I can't imagine why you'd want to."

"Ah, Renamon was looking after me the past couple days and I just came with her to this fight because I was hoping Rika would take her back." A lie, but only partially. It made me wonder though, wasn't Rika supposed to show up before Henry?

"I haven't seen Rika since the fight with IceDevimon. Where _is_ she?" Henry wondered out loud as Takato arrived.

"I don't know." I said, somewhat worried myself as I watched Renamon work on the last Flybeemon. "She should be here. A tamer can't just abandon their partner." Henry nodded and Renamon finished the last Flybeemon, sniping it with a small diamond, causing the digital field to break up.

"Well, wherever she is, I hope she comes to her senses." Henry said, walking away with Takato.

Renamon walked to me and wrapped her arms around me. "So, you think you need Rika?" I asked, wondering if her independence had been retained at least.

"No. I don't need her." She said proudly. "I need you." _Goddamn it!_ I thought intensely as we began to head home. _I had to go and fuck up the plot line. God knows what'll happen now._

**(Break)**

It was later in the evening when the second emergence began. Renamon and I left the house and I was hopeful that Rika would show up and mend the plot. The forest was quiet and the field rose as we were arriving. Renamon readied herself and I backed away to where the others would show up. Just as I heard the others coming from behind me, the digimon came through. I was shocked to see it wasn't a Harpymon, though, and I started to worry about what would happen.

"Renamon's in a fight!" I heard Takato call as he got close and scanned the digimon. "It's a Moosemon! It's got razor sharp horns and can summon a tornado with its Hanging Twister, that's gonna give Renamon some problems!"

"Rika!" Henry called.

"I don't see her anywhere." Takato replied. Guilmon and Terriermon started running toward the Moosemon, but it swung its horns at them, knocking them back.

"Crap! I don't know if she can handle him on her own." I said, watching Renamon run in to attack.

She sprung into the air and planted a kick on Moosemon, who swung at her with his horns again. She leapt back, barely avoiding the same strike that had sent both Guilmon and Terriermon flying. She did some acrobatics as she attempted to get some range, but the Moosemon refused to let her get far enough away to get a clear shot. Finally, out of frustration, she shot a large diamond at him at close range and glanced him with it, but he barely felt it and took the chance to launch a Hanging Twister, tossing Renamon into a tumultuous wind. After a moment in the air, Renamon was taken down by a tackle Moosemon, who pinned her to the ground. He reared his horns and began to swing them at her, striking her hard. I looked around frantically, but Rika was nowhere to be found. I turned and saw Guilmon and Terriermon had collided with a tree, breaking it in half.

I knew they'd be out for the fight. _Goddamn it, I'm not losing another one!_ I thought as I ran into the fray, hurling myself at Moosemon. It knocked him a step away, allowing Renamon to recover. I backed up to her, my eyes never leaving the Moosemon as he drug his hoof along the ground, like a bull about to charge.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Renamon asked, half-jokingly.

"Well, shit." I said, getting low and ready to run if needed, "If Rika isn't gonna get here to help, I'm damn sure not gonna sit and watch you get an ass kicking from Canada's own over there." As I said this, my stare down with Moosemon was broken by a swirling of lights leading into my right hand. I felt a familiar form in my hand and I looked to Renamon, holding my other hand out to her. She took it and I smiled. "Seems I'm back in the game. I need you to try to digivolve. Focus on how you feel for me and just let it happen." Shitty advice, but hell, do I look like I've digivolved before? She must've done something right, because her skin was stripped and she quickly reformed into Kyubimon. I looked back to see Moosemon charging, obviously not courteous enough to wait for us to finish talking. Kyubimon rushed at him, electricity following her as she performed a Kodengeki. She ducked low as she got close, hitting him and avoiding his horns, knocking him back.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" She announced, shooting several large fireballs at Moosemon, knocking him to the ground. He was weak, it was obvious. Kyubimon charged again, using a Kodengeki, and shattered him into data on contact. She pause for a moment, considering whether or not to load his data, before walking to me, reverting to Renamon as she did.

"Too good for his data?" I asked, smiling.

"I don't need it. I told you once," She leaned in and kissed me on the mouth, deeper and with more passion than any other we'd shared. "I only need you."

I smiled and began walking, taking her hand in mine. We could've phased home, but it was a beautiful, cool Shinjuku night, and I felt like sharing it with her.

**(Break)**

We approached the door to the house after a long, peaceful walk, and Renamon leaned into me, pulling me tight to her.

"Is this how you treat your tamers?" I asked. "Because if it is, I should've gotten one of these a lot earlier." I waved the digivice in my hand.

"Mmm, no. You're just special."

"Oh really? I am so honored."

"Hmm, where have I heard that before?" She asked rhetorically.

I leaned up to her ear. "I think the neighbors are starting to stare." I whispered. She laughed and released me, passing through the doorway.

I walked through the kitchen, checking the fridge, as if the contents would have changed since we'd been gone. I closed it and saw Raia's digivice still on the counter, but the screen was spotless, no cracks whatsoever.

"So damn weird." I muttered to myself, picking it up and looking it over before pocketing it. Not sure why, I just did.

I walked to the bedroom and saw Renamon already in bed and wearing a lovely pair of bedroom eyes. I grinned, tossing my hoodie and shoes off into a corner and changing into a pair of shorts before climbing into the bed with her.

We snuggled up close to each other and I thought about how quickly things had progressed since I'd gotten here.

"So, since you've had some time to get to know me," I said, looking into her icy blue eyes. "Do you still think I'm a monster?"

Her mouth opened to answer, but the next words spoken weren't hers.

From somewhere behind me, I heard a familiar voice, cracked with such pain and anguish that it made my blood run cold, say "Yes."


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for late upload, slipped my mind.**

**This ain't gonna be a happy chapter. Watch your step, there's some ****_mildly_**** disturbing shit after the first break.**

I turned my head to find Raia in the door of the bedroom. I turned back to Renamon who was staring at me, and back to Raia, who was also staring at me.

"Shit." I said, standing from the bed. I walked through the doorway out into the living room. "Goddamn it. Only me. Only fucking me. I swear I'm the only person who could ever fuck up this hard."

The two Renamon followed me and Raia asked the obvious question. "What the hell is going on here!?"

Renamon decided to answer because I was busy pacing and cursing under my breath. "You died! He and I spent the last week and a half together. We love each other!"

"I crawled through the worst hell in the digital world to get back to him, and I'm sure as hell not going to lose him!" Raia started to snarl at Renamon. A fight was going to break out if I didn't intervene.

"Hey!" I yelled, catching the attention of both. "I'm a piece of shit and neither of you should love me! Raia, I still love you, but I thought you were gone! Renamon, I still love you, but I love Raia too! Goddamn it, how the hell did I let this happen?"

**(Break)**

A prey beneath her, she prepared to strike. She was newly born, just out of the egg, and yet she was so _strong_. It'd taken her only hours to progress to her Rookie form and she was so _powerful_. If she wanted she could challenge a weaker champion and succeed with some effort. And yet, she hadn't. This would be her first test of power, as all others had run as soon as she began fighting. This one wouldn't ever know it happened. That was her personal goal, deletion before her presence was even known. She dropped, a ball of ghost fire in each hand and landed on the Digimon, a Tapirmon, and pressed her palms down to its back, searing two large spots into it. The impact and burns brought the creature close and a Diamond Storm to the back of the head finished the job. The form beneath her shattered into data and she began to load it, but she stopped just before she did.

_Why does this feel… wrong?_ She thought, pondering why she felt an urge countering what she'd seen in all other victors. A pain began to swell in her mind and she brought her hands up to her face, extinguishing the flames as she did. The pain grew until it was nigh unbearable and she gripped her face, muffling the screams of agony she was releasing out of reflex. She would never know it, but her mind was attempting to recover dumped memory from a past life. Biologically, neurons were firing in patterns they once had, but they had to carve new paths. The sensation was painful and rendered her unconscious, causing her to slump against the trunk of the tree she'd been hiding in.

Hours later, she awoke with fresh memories. They didn't flood her though, they were accessed normally, presenting something of a problem, as she would not be conscious of them until they were accessed, and she lacked the mental map she'd once had. The data cloud that still hovered in front of her gave her a good start though. She remembered a conversation with some creature about loading data, the memory of which triggered the whole event. She realized these memories were hers, from before she'd "died". In an attempt to map her memories again, she thought of her death and the conversation, noting a creature present in both. She pressed her thoughts toward him, and the clouds began to clear a bit.

She stood and checked her surroundings. For now, her mission was to track down this man, as he was obviously important, and perhaps more memories would resurface along the way.

She began to move, quickly flitting around, leaping from trees to the ground every once in a while. Her mind wandered to the conversation, gently exploring as much as possible. She remembered watching a Renamon and another creature, but not the one who'd spoken to her. The one she watched was named Rika, she remembered that. She remembered the horror of watching the Renamon load data. She ran over as much conversation as she could remember, but she couldn't find a name for the other creature, but she felt a strange feeling, a warmth, toward him.

She paused in a tree, perched high, as she explored her death, working backwards from the crash point, her memory's end. An IceDevimon had killed her with a few lucky blows, but she remembered pain other than that, _before_ that. Lacerations covering her legs, and gash that severely hindered her arm. Her memory branched here, and layers of shame and sadness lined it.

She'd been out in the city for some reason she couldn't place, but shame was there as well, and she'd been attacked and thrown to the ground, and her arm came up to block a strike, causing a long claw to strike down her forearm. She'd tried to scuttle backwards, but claws swung in cross-hatched patterns across her legs, dicing them up. A look up to her attacker sent huge waves of fear through her, but she couldn't recall the face. The digimon was strong, easily capable of killing her much like she had the Tapirmon. Yet, he didn' , he leaned his face down to hers, silhouetting it against the night sky, and he said something.

She struggled to remember what he'd said; emotions had a strong grip on this memory, but that made it all the more primary in her attempts to map her mind.

"Hmm." A chuckle. "I can see why he likes you, but I think I should have you first." Lips were pressed to hers as a long arm, longer than the other, held her to the ground by her slender midsection. A long tongue slipped between large fangs and forced itself into her mouth. She'd hated it, but didn't fight, for fear of being killed. She was forced to endure this for quite a while, until the attacker stood from her, relinquishing his grip.

"Consider yourself lucky." He'd said. "I'm going to let you go now, but next time… well, you shall see." Wings flared out and the digimon took off flying. She'd run home, as best she could, that is, and entered her home, where the creature she'd felt warm for took care of her, which she was thankful for, despite the pain of the brown bottle.

Several day cycles later, she'd recovered most of her memory. She was Raia, and the creature, a human, was Caleb, her tamer. She had explored the warmth she'd felt, and found it to be love. She knew above all, she had to get to the real world. For that, she would have to find one, but lately, all the portals were in the dark regions of the digital world. She was on the border of one such dark area, preparing herself for the horrors within.

It took her days to get to the core of the dark area. She'd seen digimon from outside strung up, pierced on spikes, and lying near dead, bleeding out. The digimon she'd met along the way were not much better; they attacked her and they were the ones who'd tortured all the others. She had no remorse though. She deleted them with no mercy, even when they begged, which most did. They were sadists, but fear came easy when the power balance shifted. It was hellish, but it worth it. She knew she had to get back to the real world. She was needed, and she was loved there. At the very center, she found a portal which had appeared recently, and she leapt through it, feeling it close quickly behind her.

**(Break)**

Renamon and Raia were both in tears. I was pissed at myself for being so stupid. We'd been here for hours trying to sort this out. Raia understood that I was trying to move on, thinking she'd been gone. Renamon understood that I loved Raia still. And yet, I still loved Renamon. I couldn't deny my feelings for either, and yet I had to choose between them.

I sigh, sitting at a table with a massive headache. "I love you both so much, I wish I didn't have to choose." I place my hand on my face, on the verge of a breakdown. "And if I don't it wouldn't be fair to either of you! You both deserve better than me."

"I can't leave you," Raia said, her voice choking. "You're my tamer." I sighed deeply, pulling out her digivice and placing it on the table. I waited a moment and pulled out a second digivice and set it next to the first.

"I'm both of your tamers." I said. "We're stuck together."

"We may be stuck together, but that doesn't mean I have to like her." Renamon said. "I love you and you love me."

"I don't like you much either," Raia said pointedly. "And he loves me too."

"Please stop fighting." I said, emotionally drained. "I can't help how I feel, and I can't help what's happened. We just have to deal with this as it stands." Just as I finished speaking, the digivices began to go off.

No one moved, no one said anything. I thought for a moment and a realization came to mind.

"Shit. We have to go."

"Why?" Raia said, "The others can handle it."

"Not this one." I said, walking to pick up my deck of Modify cards and both digivices. "Things are going to start picking up, and whether you two like it or not, we're gonna have to help. So come on, we need to go."

**(Break)**

I walked up to see Henry be released by Yamaki. I went with my better judgement and decided not to say anything. I really didn't need to end up in a fight, because I feel like Yamaki wouldn't hesitate to take me on. Raia and Renamon warped in behind me and Yamaki walked off, on a tirade about tamers and their "pets". I dismissed him and turned to Henry.

"Ready for a fight?" I asked.

"I guess, but you know how I feel about that right?" He asked, making me realize that I hadn't spent much time around the other tamers. Terriermon had a strange look on his face, but said nothing. Henry hadn't noticed Raia yet, I guess.

"Don't worry," I said, looking up to the tower. "It's gonna get interesting, but we'll be fine. Takato's already over there, by the tower, let's get moving." Henry nodded and we ran to where Takato stood. He looked back at us and looked like he did a bit of math in his head, and I knew it wouldn't add up.

"Uh… where's Rika?" he asked, gesturing to Renamon, and then he saw Raia, who was taking her sweet time getting over here. "What the…"

I looked back at her. "Maybe I should call you Lazarus." She smiled and I turned back to the others. "Let me put it this way: it's a long damn story and we are short on time as it is." I pointed up to where Mihiramon was.

"Alright." The other tamers said, turning their heads upward. Henry pulled out his digivice and tried to scan, but it came up blank.

"What's wrong with this thing?" he asked and Terriermon leaned over it, obscuring Henry's vision with his ears. Henry pushed him back and we all saw the tiger walk across the screen.

"Who cares? What's he gonna do, bite me? We can take 'em! Ya ready?"

"Yep." Henry chirped in reply. Terriermon went to leap from Henry's shoulder but I was quick enough to snag him by the ear.

"Hey!" He yelped. "Easy on the ears!"

"You're not running in there just yet." I said, ignoring his complaint. "That thing is stronger than you think."

"Huh?" Henry and Takato said, but Guilmon sniffed the air and Terriermon perked his ears.

"He's right." Guilmon said. "Strong digimon."

"How strong?" Takato asked, looking confused.

"Ultimate. And a strong one for _that_ level." I looked up quickly to see the tiger impatiently pacing around the building, dealing with anything HYPNOS threw at him easily. "We don't have the ability to reach ultimate yet, but we all know how to get to Champion, right?"

They nodded, pulling out cards and advancing their partners to Champions. I, on the other hand, focused on my bonds with Raia and Renamon as I pulled out their digivices.

"Two!?" Takato said. I grinned and nodded. The screens lit up and I looked back to find two Kyubimon.

"Raia, this is your first time, right?" She nodded. "Try not to get ahead of yourself." She leered at me.

"How did you do that?" Takato asked. "You didn't use a card!"

"Takato, this will help explain. Raia, knock the wind out of Growlmon, but don't hurt hi-" I was cut off as she dashed past me and slammed into him. Takato doubled over, falling to his knees. "Mental link. You feel what he does. Focus on the bond between the two of you, and you can do it too. For anything more, you need him around." I pointed to Calumon, who cocked his head and brought his hand to his mouth.

"We can figure that out later, we have an ultimate on the loose, remember?" Gargomon said. I nodded and told the Kyubimon to get moving over our link. Growlmon and Gargomon followed. I used the scan on Kyubimon's digivice to see and Henry and Takato did the same.

"We can't see that well, and they can't hear us, so keep your eyes open." Gunfire resounded and I could tell Gargomon was getting cocky with his guns again. I saw Raia and Kyubimon pacing around Mihiramon and both stopped and shot Fox Tail Infernos at him, Raia shooting a lot to distract him, and Kyubimon one large one, as I'd taught her with Diamond Storm. The large one hit him, but his tail formed the Tiger Rod and whipped at Kyubimon and I lost sight on the scan. I looked up and saw Kyubimon fly off the roof top and de-digivolve as she did. She landed fairly gracefully, but she was hurt enough that I held her back.

"Unless you can digivolve again, you're not going up there again." She looked down and I nodded, looking back up to see Gargomon and Guilmon, already de-digivolved, tumble from the roof. Instantly worried, I pulled out Raia's digivice to see she was using a technique I'd programed in, Ghost Armor. Key parts of her body were covered with ghost fire, lessening impact and actively healing minor wounds. She was playing it smart though, engaging in a pacing match with Mihiramon. I looked to see Takato face down, and realized he was going through his conversation with Guilmon. _Keep him busy,_ I thought to Raia, _Just buy us a little time._

Takato reached out and grabbed Calumon's hand. Henry helped him up and helicopters fired across the building, I felt stings in my legs, where I assume they were hitting Raia. _Is that really all she feels?_

Guilmon reformed into Growlmon and Takato pulled out his cards. "We haven't finished yet. Growlmon is still willing to fight and as long as I'm still breathing I'll be right there by his side."

"Damn straight." I said as I watched him pull out a blue card. He scanned it, digivolving Growlmon to WarGrowlmon. _Raia, you're clear, get the hell out of there._ I thought to her. _Gladly._ She thought back, launching from the roof as WarGrowlmon ascended.

The fight begun again and Takato brought his arms up, taking the hits as WarGrowlmon did. "I feel every hit." He said, wincing. "Alright, that's enough."

He took a step, looking heavily burdened, and appeared to take hold of something in front of him. "As your tamer I say finish it." He said, his voice as serious as I've ever heard it. "Atomic Blaster!" He yelled, as red beams pierced the sky. I grinned and WarGrowlmon jumped down. The other, future tamers came over and I began to walk away, Raia and Renamon following me.

**(Break)**

"Well, _two _of you dragging me doesn't make the process any more comfortable." I said, walking through the door. I turned back to the two Renamon and smiled. "And here I thought you two didn't like each other, but I saw ya working together up there."

Renamon blushed a bit and Raia simply smiled. "You're worth the trouble." Raia said. Renamon nodded.

"Well, hell, I don't know about _that._" I said, walking close to both and pulling them into a large hug. "But I do know I'm damn lucky to have you both." I involuntarily yawned.

"Time for bed." Renamon said, walking to the bedroom. Raia followed.

"Alright, you two get the bed, I'll take the couch." I said, laying down on the couch and falling asleep quickly. I heard protests to me sleeping on the couch, with both volunteering to take it instead, however, they fell on deaf ears.

I slept soundly up until an hour later, I awoke to find that both of them had come out and lay on top of me. I stood, extremely drowsy and half-awake, and walked to the bed room, and they followed me, grins probably ear to ear on both of them, but I didn't bother to look. I sighed and laid down in the middle of the bed and they laid down with me as well, one on each side.

"Call me Scarface I guess." I said, barely conscious and placing an arm around each, before passing out.


	11. Chapter 11

A ring sounded from next to the bed. My eyes fluttered, but I didn't move an inch. It kept ringing, and before long I decided to reach to grab it, but my eyes never opened.

"Hello?" I said, stroking one of the furry forms lying next to me who was starting to get irritated by the interruption.

"How about a patrol?" I heard Takato say from the other end. Ugh, should've never given him my number.

"Ugh…" I cracked an eye to look at the clock and tried very hard not to curse a blue streak. "It's six thirty. No."

"Oh, come on." He said, energetic as hell somehow. "How are we gonna stay on top of the digimon if we don't patrol?"

"Digimon don't get up this early." I said, half-jokingly.

"It's not like you have anything to do, right?" He said, his voice still hopeful. Just then, a rough tongue slid up the side of my face.

"Actually, something just came up. Bye." I said, hanging up quickly. I dropped the phone off the side of the bed and slid down into the sheets' warm embrace.

**(Break)**

I woke up an hour or so later to an empty bed. _Huh, _I thought. _Where'd they _both _go?_ I shook myself loose from the sheets and wandered out into the living room. Renamon and Raia were sharing the couch and looked as if they'd been talking.

"Oh God." I said, loud enough for them to hear. "They're conspiring." They looked to me and I walked to them.

"Just talking." Raia said.

"Nothing to worry about." Renamon reassured.

"_That_ worries me even more." I said sitting down between them. "So, what are you talking about?"

"Just getting to know each other better." Renamon said.

"We never had much one-on-one time, what with you constantly assaulting either her or Rika." Raia quipped.

"Mhm. Well, I need to get a shower. You two keep talking." I got up and started to walk off, but I stopped briefly to say something. "Oh, and no peeking, ok?" I saw Renamon shoot a questioning look to Raia, who was snickering.

I turned the shower on as hot as I could get it, and steam poured out into the bathroom. I got in, washed my hair, and was halfway done washing the rest of me when I heard the door open. A paw poked into the shower, but whose I couldn't tell.

I sighed. "What the hell?" I asked, seemingly to the steamy air.

"Where is it?" Raia asked.

"What?"

"The digimon! There's a field in here!" Renamon said.

I stood there, dumbfounded as the water continued to roll over me. "Steam." I said.

"Steam?" They said simultaneously.

"Steam. From the shower." I said. "Tell me Raia tricked you into this, Renamon." I heard snickering that confirmed my suspicion. I groaned and finished my shower, knowing the two of them hadn't left. I pulled the towel into the shower and covered myself before walking out. Renamon was embarrassed as all hell, and Raia whistled.

"Quite the view we have here." Raia said. She was puuuushing those boundaries again.

"Quite the horny one we have here." I retorted, walking to the sink, acting as if oblivious to their presence.

"One way to solve that quickly…" I would bet that Renamon's face broke out into a dark crimson blush under all that fur, but I neither looked, nor would have been able to see.

"Calm down, Raia." I said through a mouthful of toothpaste. I spat, rinsed, and continued. "You're going to scar Renamon." I risked a glance over my shoulder to find Renamon _very _interested in the floor and Raia taking a step to be right behind me.

I felt paws graze over me in a familiar way, but those same paws were dancing along the border to unknown territory. I felt my breath start to hitch and summoned all of the self-control I had.

"You "developed", didn't you?" I said, stuttering minorly. Hot breath hit my neck and I heard my digivices go off. _Oh, thank God_.

"We'll finish this later." Raia whispered. "You." Inhale. "Me." Exhale. "And _her_." She purred gently in my ear, leaving me pretty rattled. _Why can't I be good at dealing with this shit?_

**(Break)**

We entered the subway and got on one of the trains. The girls were phased out, but Raia found it necessary to phase in at every chance to breathe on my neck. _Can you please restrain yourself?_

_You're going to get us noticed._ Renamon joined in.

I heard Raia sigh over the mental link. _Fine._ I let out a sigh of relief and saw Henry was on the train. I started to make my way to him, but the train stopped and he began to disembark. _Wait… that means…_

I pushed myself out of the train as quick as I could and I hoped Raia and Renamon were ready for a fight. Sure enough, when I looked down the tunnel, I saw the misty, steam-like fog that accompanied a digital field.

"Henry!" I called, catching his attention. "Digivolve!" He nodded and scanned a card, and I digivolved Raia and Renamon over my mental link. I looked around, finding them behind me. They rushed past me to the massive snake as he emerged from the wreckage.

Kyubimon dragon wheeled at Sandiramon and Raia followed. It's strange, after Raia hit him, I swear the bastard cracked a grin. Gargomon began shooting at his head though, and I couldn't tell from the split second I had. What was strange was that Gargomon shoot a look back toward Raia, and he grinned as well. I looked back to Raia and Kyubimon as well, and saw Kyubimon had reared her nose away from Raia, as if there was some foul smell. That's about when it hit me.

"Shit." I said. Henry heard me and shot me a questioning look. "Raia's in… well, I guess you'd call it heat. She's pouring out pheromones like a hose right now." Henry looked like he was torn between breaking out laughing and concern for the situation.

"So…" He looked over to Gargomon, who was carrying on with his attack, though he wasn't doing much other than distracting Sandiramon.

"He's useless." I said plainly. "If he gets near Raia, he'll probably just stop dead in his tracks. Actually…" I would have continued, but Takato decided that was the time to make his entrance.

"Sorry we're late." He said somewhat sheepishly.

"At least, you're here." I replied.

"We don't have much time Guilmon, we need you to digivolve." Kyubimon said from behind me.

Takato nodded and digivolved Guilmon, and pulled out the card Kazu had given him.

"Raia, run over and distract him!" I said, gesturing to Sandiramon. She rushed at him and circled around him, her tails swaying in a sultry fashion that she was getting _way_ too used to. It worked though, because Sandiramon was too busy trying to chase down her scent as Takato used the modify card.

"Here's our chance!" I yelled as the digimon went in and attacked. Sandiramon essentially took it on the nose, because he was too distracted to defend at all. He went down like a sack of rocks, but he still had the energy to chuckle.

Kyubimon noticed first, though. "Wait a minute, he's still laughing at us. Who are you?"

"I am one of the twelve Devas sent by the Sovereign one," he said. "You may have defeated me, but my brethren will avenge me."

"Huh?" Gargomon said in confusion. "Are you telling me that there are ten more of you ugly whackos coming our way?"

Sandiramon grinned once more. "Prepare yourselves to be conquered. We are the digimon who refuse to be tamed by mere humans. We will rule your realm and there's nothing you can do to stop us. The twelve Devas will destroy you all." And with that, he broke into data.

"Well, I hope we get a little bit more organized, or the Devas will be kicking our asses." I said as the digimon de-digivolved.

"What are Devas?" Henry asked.

"Twelve very powerful Ultimates. They're in the forms of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac." I said. "As you can see, tiger, snake, etc."

"Why don't we talk about this later. What do you say we take the elevator out of here?" He pointed to the hole in the ceiling.

"I really have to wonder who the hell pays for all the crap we break." I said, taking the hands of the two Renamon who just _barely _managed to get me up through the hole.

**(Break)**

When we got to the surface, all of Takato's friends were awestruck by the digimon, although I had to keep an eye on Raia. Sure enough, I saw Guilmon wander over, his nostrils flaring from tracking Raia's scent. I walked over to him and gently smacked him on the snout.

"No." I said, looking him in the eye.

"What's that smell?" He said, about as innocent as I'd seen him.

"Something you should stay away from." I looked over to where Takato was and walked to him. "Hate to cut this short, but I have… _something_ to deal with, so I gotta get going."

"Aww." Came the collective sigh from the kids. "Alright, see ya later." Takato said, before he led everyone's attention back to Guilmon.

"Raia, Renamon, let's go home." They nodded and we dashed home quickly. The instant the door was closed, I found myself on the couch with Raia on top of me.

"Well damn." I said. "Someone's getting quick. Renamon, mind giving me a hand here?" Renamon walked over, kneeled beside me and grinned. Then she kissed me full on the mouth.

Raia grinned like a lion looking at a piece of meat. "I told you, did I not?"

"Renamon, Rai, we're not gonna do this." I forced her off of me and walked to the bedroom and laid down.

I laid down and wrapped her arms around me as well, and I turned to face her.

"I love you." I said, touching my nose to hers, peering into her eyes. "I'm sorry, but **(FanFiction would not have allowed me to post a sexually explicit scene on their website, so any readers should head over to SoFurry and look up the user "SeraphXIII" to find the full version of this chapter which is over 1000 words longer and contains a sexually explicit scene). **So that's why I couldn't do it."

She sighed and I could tell she understood. "I love you too. I hate censorship." She replied as I drifted away. I fell away from the world to the vision of her icy blue eyes being taken by a dark crimson.

**(Edit: Due to certain restrictions, I can only allow users on SF to view the explicit chapter, however I _can_ and will fix the issue of the other chapters being unavailable. As a result, just make an account on SF to view the explicit part.**

**Re-Edit: Changed my mind, if you want to read it on SF you'll just have to make an account. For the purpose of going there for the expanded chapter 11, you'll need an account anyways, so unless you're going there to re-read what you have here, there's no point in me changing anything.)**


	12. Chapter 12

**(For those who didn't see, to view the story on SoFurry, you'll have to make an account. Sorry for the inconvenience, but thems the breaks. Make an account, log in and check my profile again.)**

My eyes flicked open as the morning light hit my face, and I closed them again as I stretched. The movement must've woken Raia, who pulled me into an embrace.

"Morning." She said quietly, gently pressing her mouth to mine.

I smiled and opened my eyes again to looking into hers. "Morni-" I stopped mid-word at the sight of her eyes, red as blood. "What. The. Serious. Fuck." I blinked several times to ensure I wasn't seeing things, then I noticed the fur around the eyes, then her whole head, was a sleek metallic silver. She looked at me questioningly, somewhat alarmed. I scooted back from her, bumping into Renamon, who leaned over me and probably also shot a strange look at Raia.

"Why are you two looking at me that way?" She asked, bringing a paw to her face, then noticing the color change. "Oh… well, it worked."

"What worked?" I asked, confused as I'd ever been. I thought for a moment, back to the code that would change her fur, how she was embarrassed to tell me what it was. "So… sex changed your fur color?" I questioned after my moment of thought. Raia nodded.

Decidedly a smartass this morning, I peered over my shoulder to Renamon. "What about you?" I asked, knowing full well the answer to my next question. "What about you changed?"

"Well," she said, "I definitely want to do what we did last night again." I blushed a bit to her pleasure.

"As much as I'd love to, I feel like we should get out of bed before noon." Renamon smiled and nodded, crawling out onto her feet on her side as I followed her, Raia getting out on her side. I took a moment to look over Raia, noting how the sleek fur complimented her form more than her previously fluffed fur. The silver fur shone in the morning sun, and her arm guards, which she'd discarded at some point during the night, were as red as her irises. I must've been staring for a while because Renamon lightly socked me on the shoulder and I noticed a bashful look on Raia's face.

"Sorry, didn't mean to stare." I said.

"All three eyes, pointed right at her." Renamon said as she strolled out of the room. I wondered what she meant, then noticed a certain tightness and blushed heavily. To be honest, I was somewhat surprised to hear such a crude joke from Renamon. I guess she was allowed one in her life.

"You Renamon," **(Meant as a plural)** I said, leading Raia out of the room, "You get me every time." Raia snickered a bit and slid an arm around me as we walked. We went to the kitchen and I saw Renamon peering in drawers and cabinets.

"I suppose I should make breakfast." I said. I looked between the two of them and changed my mind. "Actually, let's go get something."

**(Break)**

I got the strangest look from a waitress at a local restaurant when I ordered 5 of the largest meal on the menu, but the check was worth it enough in her eyes that she didn't say anything. I carried the two bags filled with takeout out the door and around the corner and raised my arms. I felt myself spirited away, arriving right outside our front door in a matter of seconds.

"You're getting better." I said as Renamon opened the door.

"Well, having another to share the load helps quite a bit." Raia said as Renamon nodded. I laughed and placed the bags on a table, separating the five containers of food.

"Alright, two each for my very special girls." I said, laying on a semi-sarcastic charming tone. "And one for me." The two of them tore away at the food once they'd opened the containers, managing to look ravenous _and_ graceful somehow. I, meanwhile, took my time on my own breakfast, an omelet with all sorts of hot peppers. Before I ate it though, I fetched the hot sauce from the kitchen and applied it liberally, the scent causing both Renamon **(Again, plural)** to look at me as if I were insane. I smiled and happily ate my ass-burner of an omelet.

After we finished, myself taking longer than the two of them, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, it's Henry, I got your number from Takato." Of course he did. "I just wanted to let you know Takato and I will be on a school camping trip, will you be able to handle things on your own?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." I said. "I actually hope I can use some of the things I've whipped up, you guys make the fights too easy for them to be necessary."

I could practically hear the anime-style sweatdrop forming through Henry's silence. "If you say so…" He said.

"Henry, come on, we gotta get Guilmon on the bus!" I heard in the back ground.

"Alright!" Henry called back. "Gotta go, see ya."

"See ya." I said hanging up. I turned to the girls to find them waiting for me to finish on the phone. "We got the town to ourselves this week." I walked toward them, stood between them and kissed Renamon briefly, then Raia, then kept walking. They followed me and I walked out the front door, taking a long walk to the park, going into the deeper woods where few travelled. Renamon and Raia phased in and Renamon was the first to speak.

"What are we doing out here?" I smiled and sat down next to a tree, admiring the canopy above me. The wind was gentle, cooling the air, and the sky was heavy with rain clouds. It seemed about to rain, but none fell.

"We're getting out of the house." I said. "Some time outside will do me good. Besides, it's a beautiful day, to me at least, and we're far enough in the woods that no one will find us." I grinned, seeing their expressions change. Renamon decided she would be the first to take my attention, and came over to sit in my lap. Raia sighed, not wanting to share, but knowing she'd have to, and sat next to me, nuzzling her head to my shoulder. Renamon lightly pressed her lips to mine, her legs wrapping around my waist. I smiled and kissed Raia on the top of the head before embracing Renamon and relaxing with my back against the tree.

Rain began to fall, gentle and slow, rhythmic against the canopy of leaves. It was more than a drizzle, but not quite a downpour, something of a medium, the pace provided slowing and calming the mind. The wind blew with a slight chill, enough to bite, but it felt good. The air smelt of rain and freshness, complimenting the whole of the scene, and guiding me to a peaceful relaxation. Renamon refuse to let me drift completely though, her gentle kisses roaming from my lips to my neck, my jaw to my cheek, just feathery touches that she let fall where they may. My hands rested on her hips, gently making their way along her sides and down her back. After some time, Renamon decided to let Raia have a turn, and Raia wrapped her legs around me and laid her chest against mine, her ruff cushioning against me. She nuzzled her head against my neck and I stroked down her back.

Raia eventually rolled off to the side and I placed an arm around both of them and closed my eyes, letting the rhythm of the rain finally take me, shifting me to what seemed like another plane of existence, but was rather another state of consciousness, one of peace and contentment. We laid there, against the tree, listening to the rain for God knows how long. Eventually though, both pairs of ears perked, and I realized we had a fight on our hands. I stood, shaking myself back to full awareness as they prepared to engage. We were some distance away though and we had to track whatever it was down.

**(Break)**

A digital field had formed a ways away from where we'd been, and it was big. Bigger than a Deva, which told me there was at least two. I grimaced at the thought that we'd be going in blind, because I knew there was nothing like this in the Tamers season. Rika never had to solo something this big. But then, I wasn't Rika, and I had not one Renamon, but _two_, who were powerful. I readied myself mentally as we approached the field.

"You two ready?" I asked, my voice hard and serious. "Calumon ain't here, so no upgrade to ultimate to save our ass if we start losing." They both nodded, digivolving to their champion forms as their own preparation. I thanked God I'd remembered to grab my deck, but my special card wouldn't work on these forms. _Never have I needed them to have hands more._ I sighed and decided that it was unnecessary. We couldn't be facing anything _that _big, right? Just a couple of cocky champions.

I took a step through the field and nearly pissed myself. A NeoDevimon and a SkullSatamon stood before us.

"Oh shit." I said. "Two ultimates." _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK_. I thought. _Well, we damn sure need Calumon to save our asses now._

"We'll be alright." Renamon said, characteristically brave. Brave, but foolish still.

"No, no you won't." I said, watching the two demons get acquainted with the physical world, with our presence still unnoticed. "They're ultimates and virus-types, you're data and champions. They have you beat twice over. No, we're gonna have to leave this one." I began to back away when I noticed a long arm pointed directly at us; that arm belonging to NeoDevimon.

"What's this now?" He said, a grin surely spreading beneath his mask. "A tamer and his two little champions. Ha, look at that, they're even different colors! How cu-" He suddenly stopped and tapped SkullSatamon, directing his gaze to Raia, and whispered something.

"Yeah, that's the one." I overheard. "Quite lucky, you three are, we won't be shredding you to bits today." SkullSatamon said, cocky as his power allowed him to be. I tried to ignore the obvious pun, more worried as to why they weren't killing us, and what Raia had to do with it.

"Quite lucky." NeoDevimon reiterated, opening a portal, a power I'd never seen a digimon utilize, and stepping into it, SkullSatamon in tow.

"What the hell?" I asked as the portal closed. I turned to Raia, directing the question at her. "What the hell?"

"I'm… I'm not sure." She said, confusion and worry heavy in her voice. "We shouldn't tell the others about this, should we?"

I shook my head after a moment of thought. "No, this will likely worry them and I don't know that we want to get them involved."

"Should we be worried that they specifically targeted her?" Renamon asked.

"Yeah, at least, I am." I sighed. "Let's just get back home, this is a mess and I need to relax and think on it." They degraded and took hold of me, taking the three of us home.

**(Break)**

"We found her." A voice echoed through a spacious, dark hall. He hated this hall. It was the usual arch-villain crap, and he wasn't a villain. He just wanted something. Something that should belong to him. Something that was stolen from him.

"Well done." He said, his voice vitriolic. "I managed to find her, you dumb _shit_. Why is she not _here_?" He asked, ticking a large claw on the arm of his oversized chair, which was ornamented with Greymon skulls. Another thing he hated about this place, too many damn skulls, it fit right in with the villain theme. It was so _damn_ comfortable though, so he tolerated it.

"Erm…" The voice trailed off and another took over.

"Well, the tamer was there, and another." He stopped ticking his claw and sat up at this revelation. He knew the tamer would be there, but another partner? The _bastard_. Was one not enough to please him? Especially _this _ "one".

"Another? Hmm… this complicates things." He said, sinking into his chair out of frustration. "Keep tabs on them, but don't be seen or it'll be your ass."

The voices meeped in fear.

"Oh, I won't kill you." He said, to a pair of relieved sighs. "They will."


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry about late upload, issues with internet and got sidetracked.**

The couple of days after we saw the two ultimates in the park were fairly quiet. I heard all about the Deva that Takato and Henry took down and then things went silent. What had me worried was Raia's behavior though. She'd been acting somewhat timid after the encounter and I'd figured it had to do with both of the ultimates being forms of Devimon, like the IceDevimon that had taken her down before. I tried not to push her on it, just paid her more attention than usual around the house, which was easy due to the lack of activity. I gave her hugs and kisses more often than usual and just tried to keep her happy.

One morning, maybe three days after Takato and Henry got back, Renamon had already woken up and was off doing things, I'm not sure what. Raia, though, was twitching and whispering in her sleep. She looked troubled and didn't wake up from me moving around in bed. I shook her gently, trying to wake her, succeeding after quite a bit of effort.

"Hey, Raia, come on." I said as I finally roused her. Her eyes snapped open and tears began to roll. Her vision darted around before landing on me, at which point her arms sprung around me and she pulled close to me. She sobbed into my shoulder and I stroked her back, worried as all hell. She wasn't one for nightmares, and this seemed like too much of a coincidence with the recent incident. I stroked her back and one of her ears softly.

"Shhh." I said gently. "What's wrong?" I whispered quietly, as if speaking normal would hurt her somehow. She muttered something, although I wasn't sure if it was a reply or not. I asked the question several minutes later, earning a new response.

She leaned back, holding me by the shoulders and staring into my eyes. "Am I yours?" She asked, her voice so questioning it was almost painful. Did she doubt me?

"Yes, yes of course." I said, not fully understanding. Her eyes took on a look of relief and she kissed me, as passionate as she ever had. The kiss was brief and she returned to my embrace, her fur wet from the tears, but no more forming. _Step in the right direction, I suppose_.

After some time, I stood with her and led her to the kitchen, making a simple breakfast to get something on her stomach. She ate slowly, much more so than usual, and I sat, watching her and thinking. I wanted her tell me what had happened to cause all of this, but then again I didn't want to push her and have it rear up and get her crying again. I sighed inwardly.

"Sorry." She said, still eating as she broke me from my thoughts. Her voice was slightly hoarse from sobbing, but she seemed to have stabilized emotionally. "You must be confused."

I sighed, aloud this time. "What happened?" I asked. "Was it a nightmare?" I only wished that if it was, it was nothing like my own prior to her return.

She nodded her head. "I was…" She paused, collecting herself, and I could tell she was holding back tears. "Being beaten." At that, I stood up and moved my chair at the kitchen table next to hers, sitting and placing an arm around her as her head came to rest on my shoulder.

"Shh. Go slowly." I said. "Who was hurting you?"

"Demon."

"A demon?" I said, almost to myself. "And he was hitting you?"

She nodded, and took a deep breath. "He was… raping me." My eyes shot wide open and my jaw hung loose.

"What!?" I nearly exclaimed, barely able to hold it to a speaking volume.

She began sobbing again. _Damn it_. Now my mind went into overdrive. _Is her dream like mine? Will it come true? Has it already?_ My mind ran to the day she came home beaten and bruised, just before she was killed. I knew it would be painful, but I had to ask.

"Raia, what happened the day you came home all cut up?" I asked, tentative. Just as she was about to answer, the digivices went off.

She paused, looked to where the beeping digivices were, and looked back to me. "We need to go, the others will need help." I groaned, knowing she was using this as a way out of talking about this. _Well, if she doesn't want to talk about it yet, it can wait._

"Will you be able to fight?" She nodded, slowly regaining her composure. Around this time, Renamon arrived.

"Two." Was all she said.

"Two Devas?" She nodded. "Damn, let's get moving."

**(Break)**

We arrived to find Gargomon getting trampled by Pajiramon with Henry and Takato fumbling through as many cards as they could scan. I sighed.

"Renamon, Raia, distract Vajramon." They bounded off toward the laughing ox deva when was enjoying the little show. Henry finally listened to Takato and scanned the blue card, and moments later his fear for Gargomon's life triggered the matrix through Calumon.

Rapidmon put on his little show and took out Pajiramon, with Vajramon escaping, as usual.

Henry and Takato looked at Raia strangely and I realized they'd not seen her new color.

"You guys like the color change?" I said, wrapping an arm around Raia. She smiled softly, probably enjoying the attention of the two messing with her new slick and silver fur. Renamon had walked away from us and appeared deep in thought, looking where Vajramon had disappeared at.

I called Renamon back and prepared to go home. Raia complied, probably happy this encounter was short. Renamon, however, didn't.

"I want to track him." She said. It seemed odd to me, but perhaps she felt bad that we got there late. "You and her go home, I'll contact you mentally if I find him." I simply nodded and returned home with Raia.

Later that night, Renamon came home, looking frustrated, and crawled into bed, falling asleep quickly. I sighed, hoping she didn't stress herself too much over this, she didn't need to worry about it.

The next day she was gone before I woke up and wasn't home all day. I was getting pretty worried when I saw the digivices going off. I collected both digivices and my deck and got Raia, who was pretty stirred up, just like she normally got during bio-emergences. As she took me to the digital field, I hoped this was a sign of her return to normalcy, and maybe a revelation of her past by me.

We arrived to find the others watching Vajramon talk to Renamon. It was the normal scene but I wondered, if she was hunting him, why was she talking to him? I could only hope she was still going for information, but doubt kept picking at me.

I stood calmly, watching her talk to him.

"This Digimon Sovereign you keep telling me about, I've never heard of him, who is he?" She asked.

Vajramon was looking at her strangely, making me really begin to question what was going on here. "Digimon were created by humans, but now we have surpassed them all. It's fitting that we have a digimon master, who unlike humans, will never desert us."

"But humans have not deserted us." She replied, but she was half-hearted. She looked to the ground, seeming to get upset.

Vajramon's voice began to boom, his digital supremacist attitude flaring up. "Surely you're not talking about those puny children who treat you like pets, a role that hardly befits magnificent creatures such as ourselves!? We were made to rule this world and the humans, and with the guidance of our master we will soon take over what is rightfully ours! This will usher in a golden age where digimon will reign supreme."

Calumon hopped down the steps while the other tamers did the peanut gallery routine. After a short exchange, Calumon might as well have been a red cape, because Vajramon seemed intent on trampling him. I gripped Raia's digivice and digivolved her, ready for her to go in if necessary.

Calumon tripped and Takato sent in Guilmon, digivolving him to Growlmon along the way. He collided with Vajramon, going toe-to-toe with him, actually looking capable of taking him down, until he was flipped over Vajramon, smacking into the wall. Gargomon, recently digivolved, rushed in now. He was dispatched just as quickly, and Renamon launched a diamond storm at his back to distract him. I took Renamon's digivice and digivolved her as well, and sent Raia in to assist.

"Huh?" He half-grunted. "Two of you now? And both digivolved? You would be excellent servants of our master, rather than that human you wish to follow."

"Not a master!" Raia called out, launching a dragon wheel at him. "We are equals!"

"So beautiful, yet so lost." He said to Raia. She looked back to me and seemed unsurprised by the pissed off look on my face.

"Takato, Henry, don't worry, I've got this one. Just stay back and let me handle it." I stared down the ox, my contempt for him building the more I thought about what he'd been saying. He was laying down compliments on not one, but _two_ of the females I care about? No dice. "You know, Vajramon, you really shouldn't compliment the ladies when you have no balls to back it up." His head snapped to me and a sly grin crept across my face.

"What in the Sovereigns' name are you talking about?" He said, suppressing rage and failing.

"Well, you _are _the ox deva, right?" I said, my grin growing to show teeth as I spoke. "Oxen are castrated. You can say what you want, but I think women prefer men with balls."

He flared his nostrils and snorted, preparing to charge at me. I pulled a card, any card I could, and looked at it, hoping I'd get lucky. A flash of blue caught my vision and it would've taken a Glasgow grin to be larger than mine. I slashed the card in one of the digivices, I didn't look to see which, just as he began to rush forward. Despite the imminent danger, Calumon was standing nearby and his Zero Unit began to glow.

Raia stripped down, her form shifting to that of a large human and her body regained texture quickly after. Her Taomon form was similar to her others, her fur silver as well as most of her clothing.

"Thousand Spells!" She called out, showering Vajramon with scrolls, each glowing a bright red.

He turned to her, his rage for me forgotten. "Our master would not be pleased, you look so human. Why would you digivolve to resemble such weak, insignificant creatures?"

"No matter my appearance," She said, "I can still kick your ass _and_ your Sovereign's!" She jumped high in the air, drawing her brush and painting a Talisman of Light in the air.

He stared her down, perhaps seeing his defeat in the works, and decided to finally come off his high horse. "You may delete me, but you will never destroy the Sovereigns. It would take five armies to defeat them." The talisman formed on him and he was quickly deleted.

Raia degraded and walked to me, pulling me close. "So protective." It was a short embrace though, when I saw Renamon was nowhere to be seen.

"Crap. Guys, sorry I have to leave so quick again, but Renamon's gone again." I looked to Raia and she quickly brought me home. I heard violent smacks coming from the back of the house and went to look. "Raia, find somewhere you can stay for a little while, I have a feeling this might break bad, and I don't want you caught in it." She nodded, darting out the door and I walked through the back door to find Renamon beating the living _shit_ out of her target practice tree.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, standing in the doorway, my arms crossed. "Why'd you run out on the fight? And just what was going on with Vajramon?" She stopped hitting the tree, her arms falling limp to her sides.

She shot me a nasty look and said two simple words. "Fuck you."

**Thirteen chapters done and posted, my lucky number.**


	14. Chapter 14

I eyed her, briefly wondering if she was leaving it a verbal assault or if I was actually in danger. _Hardly._

"What? Have I pissed you off some?" I asked sarcastically. "Let's go inside, no need for the neighbors to hear." I walked to the bedroom, waiting for her to come, which she eventually did.

"Do you even care about my feelings? You don't even look at me, but I feel like I can't even say anything without seeming like a whiner."

"I'm sorry, Renamon, really, but you need to tell me these things, not save them up like this. I mean, look at Raia, sure she might seem like kind of a crybaby to you, always venting emotions, good or bad, but that's _healthy_. You can't keep that shit bottled. Hell, I used to have a problem with it, but I'm better off now." She eyed me scornfully.

"You've still been spending much more time with her."

"Well," I said, wandering about the room, my eyes never coming back to Renamon "Take the other morning for example. She was crying! Hell, I _had_ to take care of her!"

"Is _that_ what it takes!?" Renamon cried out, snapping my view back to her. Her eyes had misted up and she was about to burst. "Do I have to _cry_!? Will _that_ make you love me!? Will _that_ make you care!?" She was full blown now, crying, her eyes already getting red. I stood, taking the torrent of verbal beatings she was going to throw out. "You took me in! I was unloved and you were going to _care_ about me! Love me! I was scared, but I never showed it! Then_ she_ came back, and I had my doubts, but you said it would work, you said you could do it. I trusted you, and you give me this… this shit!? No! I may have lost one tamer, but I'm not afraid to lose another because he's selfish! I just want someone to care!" She slowly collapsed, crumpling to the floor, and I walked to her, tried to comfort her, but she hit me. She smacked me in the chest, I'm lucky she didn't break a rib.

"I _do_ care." I said softly. "I wouldn't lie to you. I love you both _so_ much, but I can't bear to see this happen. I hate myself for all of this mess. It's my fault and I know it." I got close and pulled her into an embrace, fighting her struggles until she finally gave up and melted into me, sobbing hard on my shoulder.

"I miss her." She said softly.

"I know you do."

"I cared about her, genuinely, and she abandoned me, left me for no one to love." Her voice was getting rough from the heavy sobs and tears had already soaked two thick lines beneath her eyes. "She never cared. I was a tool to her. Data, that's all. Everything I did was to try to make her happy, and she left me like I was a piece of trash." I held her tight, kissing her gently on the head.

"Whether you believe it or not," I whispered to her. "You mean something to me. You're strong. You're stronger than me at most times. But you know what? When you aren't strong, that's when I'm here. You can hold the weight of the world, but when you need me, I'll not only share the load, I'll take it entirely, and all the while, I'll help you back up and be right behind you when you're ready again." She held me tight, nuzzling her head into me. I sat and stroked her head for a while before she pulled away and looked me in the eyes. She kissed me, gently at first, then adding pressure until she was kissing me full force. Soon she broke away again and looked me in the eyes.

"I want you." She said, her voice full of pain and need. "I want you and no one else." I nodded, feeling her hand drift down on me. She needed someone to make her feel wanted, loved. Everyone does, really, and I saw my failings clearly over the past few days. If this would comfort her and even partially make up for my shortcomings as a tamer and lover, I would do it, not that I wouldn't want to anyways.

"We'll take this slow." I said. "I want to be able to enjoy every moment with you." I wouldn't take advantage, she would lead me where she needed me; that was what was right. This would be my act of redemption.

I placed a hand on her back and led her to the bed, using my hand to slowly lay her down. I smiled warmly and crawled onto the bed next to her. **(You all are missing about 915 words that are a bit **_**too**_** "strong" for FanFiction, so head over to my SoFurry (SeraphXIII) and check it out in full. Once again, you have to have an account to be able to view my story due to the rating on it.)**

She clung tight to me and stared into my eyes, her nose brushing against mine. "I love you." She said.

I smiled and kissed her. "I love you too." I wrapped my huge arms around her and used my size to try to enhance the comfort of the embrace. "I'll never stop caring, even if you do." She took on a somewhat sheepish look.

"I'm sorry, I hate to act so needy."

"It's natural, and you're hardly needy. Everyone needs attention, and I wasn't giving enough of it. I'm the one who should be sorry."

She snuggled up to me and didn't reply, just as well I suppose, I didn't want to argue about who should be sorry.

* * *

I woke up next to Renamon; I guess I'd fallen asleep. I thought back upon the previous night and realized I hadn't gotten Raia to come back. Worse yet, I'd told her to hide, but I had no clue where she'd gone. I thought to her over the mental link, but I got no response, at least at first. After a moment, a thought stream began to flow through into my mind.

A world swirled into existence, first a pixelated monochrome, then clarity and color came. Raia was being backed up to a wall by a figure and a long arm was pressed to her chest, and despite her resistance, he had her pinned. It took me no time at all to realize this was a re-occurrence of her nightmare. I wondered who the figure was as I felt myself unable to move, but the harder I looked at the figure, the more of a black blur her became. I heard a sort of cackling laugh and he pressed himself to Raia. I wanted to rush at him and tackle him away from her, but I couldn't force myself to move, as if I were constricted by chains.

My eyes shot fully open when I heard her scream. _Goddamn it, he's hurting her!_ I thrashed and thrashed in my own mind, trying to fight the restraints, but to no avail.

"Mmm, you're mine now." The figure said, his voice shifting in tone, making it impossible to place. Then he licked the side of her face. _The son of a bitch licked her!_

"Raia! Goddamn it no!" I screamed, watching tears burst from her eyes. She looked at me, right then, directly at me, leaving a confused look on her pained face. _She can hear me? She can hear me!_

"Raia!" I screeched, trying to make myself undeniably noticeable. "Raia! I'm here, it's a dream!" She stared directly at me, the tears soaking her fur making me feel as if I were betraying her by not doing more. "Wake the hell up! You have to wake up!" Her eyes opened wide with revelation and I was quickly booted back to my mind with Renamon tending to me.

I was on the floor, probably due to me not being able to stand when I wasn't technically conscious, and Renamon was kneeling next to me.

"We need to find Raia. She fell asleep somewhere and just had a nightmare." I said.

"This is what I was talking about, she has the slightest problem and you have to run to her side." Renamon said with a snort of derision.

I glared at her. "A nightmare of her being _raped_." I said, grabbing Renamon's attention quickly. "What's more, when I was in there, I could feel a presence similar to the one in the dream I had, and that means someone's in her head." Renamon nodded, remembering the night I'd woken up screaming.

"Alright, I'll try to track her." She pulled to my feet and led me outside. Soon enough she had a scent. "We need to hurry, there are others there."

* * *

We got to Raia to find her running from the SkullSatamon and NeoDevimon from before. A growl formed in my throat as I pulled out Renamon's digivice and a random card, hoping it would be blue. To my surprise, it wasn't. In fact, it was a pure white card, which shone just like the blue cards. I questioned whether to scan it, but the sight of Raia being cornered by the two ultimates made me desperate enough.

The card scanned through and its shine transferred to the digivice, which shone brightly, along with Raia's, which I pulled out. The two digivices gained an attractive force and collided, despite my attempts to keep them apart. The result was Raia's digivice with a complex ice blue tribal pattern inlaid on it. I noticed that it had two card ports, one on each side, and realized it was a dual digivice. I pulled another card and this one came up blue. _Here we go!_ I slid the card through the right port, and looked up to see Raia become Taomon. Her gaze shot to me and I did a quick two-finger salute, the blue card perched between them, then scanned it again on the left, causing Renamon to digivolve.

"Give me a ride, we gotta get in there!" I said, feeling myself lifted and placed on her shoulder. As we rushed to Raia, I noticed she was holding her own well enough to survive till we could help. I dug through my deck and found the card I'd been aching to use. I struck it down the right, giving Raia quite the edge.

"Gungnir, heavenly spear!" I called out as the weapon materialized in her hands. The two demons tried to back away, but we had gotten too close. They ran and Raia did the only thing she could, throwing the spear to strike the SkullSatamon in the back. NeoDevimon appeared to hesitate a moment, then yanked out the spear and picked up SkullSatamon, continuing to run.

"Well, looks like those two won't be bothering us." I said, walking to Raia. "Hell, I digivolved Taomon here and she didn't even get to fight! In all seriousness, are you alright?" She nodded as she degraded. Renamon, now rookie once again, walked to her and hugged her.

"I'm sorry." She said, in a display that confused both myself and Raia. "All along, I've been thinking of you as a whiner, or a baby. You aren't. You are just like your tamer, a fighter." Renamon glanced back to me and I re-examined the digivice.

"So that's it…"

"What the hell?" Raia asked. I looked at her queerly, not used to her cursing.

"There was a white card, I scanned it, and this happened." I said. "It must be because you two actually like each other now. Go figure." I pocketed the digivice and smiled as we returned home.

* * *

_This hall really does suck. How do kings and the like spend so much time just sitting here, doing nothing? _He thought, his pondering disrupted as a voice echoed through the hall.

"They…they're too strong."

"Nonsense!" He said, annoyance entering his tone. "Even with the other, you should be able to handle them easily!"

"Not when they can become," a cough interrupted a second voice. "Ultimates. Or when they can use modifications," a second cough, "that shouldn't exist!"

"Ultimates? You're sure?" he questioned, knowing the snag this would create in his plan. If they had reached, ultimate level, not just _her_ but the other as well, he would have to do this himself. He even briefly pondered the use of his most powerful form, before banishing the thought. _No, it won't come to that._

"Yes sir." The voices chirped.

"Very well," He said standing and walking to them. "You are of no more use to me then." He used one arm to crush the skull of the uninjured and looked down at the second.

"Sir, please!" the poor creature cried before being devoured by a simple attack.

"Useless pawns." He said, sighing as he returned to the comfortable chair. "Now I'm going to have to mail-order a new set of minions." He sat and tried to relax, maybe he'd call in one of the whores to relieve some stress. "At least you never fail me, chair." And with that, he called in a couple LadyDevimon to "help" him out a little.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day, I was sitting around with my two favorite digimon, outside for once. I was sitting, my back against the wall of the house and Raia sitting next to me, her head on my left shoulder, both of us watching the clouds pass. Renamon was up in the target tree, seeming content to be perched high, although I wasn't.

"Renamon, quit being anti-social," I called up to her. "C'mon, we talked about this." She smiled, no doubt recollecting that evening. She leapt, seeming weightless as the branch barely recoiled, and landed without a sound next to me, laying her head on my shoulder in a way similar to Raia.

She nuzzled her head against my neck and purred. "We can have _that_ talk again anytime." She said, leaving me nearly dumbfounded. Renamon, flirting? Christ, what's the world coming to? I simply smiled though, watching the clouds roll. There was a particularly dark one on the horizon, though. _Is that...? Crap._

"Well, time to go to work." I said, using the wall to press myself up. Both Raia and Renamon were already on the scent, but I reined them in for a moment. "Hold on now. Gotta get the digivice and my deck first, or do you two _want _to get caught out?" They calmed down long enough for me to retrieve what I needed, and then we were off, making a beeline for the highway.

_Wait, the highway? Damn, must've missed the first go 'round. Oh well, second time's the ass kicking, right?_ I joked with myself, but I knew this was gonna be a bitch of a fight.

We arrived and I used my mental link to digivolve Raia and Renamon, finding Takato and Henry doing the same with cards.

"You gotta show us how to do that some time." Takato said half-jokingly as Growlmon got ready for the fight.

"Yeah, really." Henry said, watching Gargomon spin up his guns.

"Later, when a 50 foot horse _isn't _trying to tear shit up." Both Raia and Kyubimon looked back at me, eager to fight. "For now, just watch the horn."

"Where were you before anyways?" Henry asked, his eyes locked on the fight and a hand at his cards. "We could've used the help."

I laughed a bit, doing the same. "I was busy sending two Ultimates of my own packing, they seemed to think they could take me and the Renamon on. Dead wrong." I raised my new digivice for them to see. "Earned me this sucker."

They both quickly looked at it. "Dual?" Takato said.

"Perceptive. Yeah, scanned a white card and it joined them. Two card ports, making this kinda thing a lot easier. Watch." I struck a Hyper Speed through one port, then the other, beginning the first wave of modify-powered attacks. It, of course did no visible damage. "He ain't going down easy."

We went on and on, attacking in waves as we scanned modifiers to power up the attacks, and while we _were_ whittling the horse deva down, it would take more than this to kill him. After 3 or 4 waves, all of the digimon were starting to become exhausted from constant use of their main abilities and I knew we'd need Kazu's game changer to save us. They came over, Kazu and Kenta, offering more cards, with Kazu eventually offering his fake blue card.

"Hope it works." I said as Takato went to scan it. I knew it would work, or thought I did. The card did nothing.

"Told ya it wouldn't do anything." I groaned. We had _really _needed that edge.

"Takato, you wanted to learn how to digivolve without cards?" He nodded. "Remember how I told you to form the mental link? You need to focus, _damn_ hard, on your bind with Growlmon." He nodded again and tried, and his digivice's screen began to glow, but quickly darkened again.

"Why didn't it work?" He asked, confused.

"Well, for Matrix digivolving, Calumon usually has to help, through the blue cards, so we probably aren't strong enough yet. Although..." I said, reaching for a card, "This might do it. Not a blue card, but it'll get Calumon to jumpstart you, which will have to be enough." I handed him the card and he tried again. Just as the digivice began to glow, he scanned the card.

"Zero Unit, activate!" He called out. I looked back and Calumon perked up a bit, his own Zero Unit shining. Growlmon began to digivolve, but something didn't look quite right. His chest cannons were oddly shaped and his arm blades split off into two.

"Takato, hand me that card." I said, nervous. He did and my fingers slid, breaking apart two cards which had been stuck together. On top was the Zero Unit card, and beneath was... "Oh crap."

"WarGrowlmon X!" I heard from in front of me.

"X Antibody." Was all I said as we watched WarGrowlmon X go to town on Indramon. "I think we win." WarGrowlmon X launched a barrage of strikes with his fists and finished off with an Atomic Blaster, the blast larger and much more powerful than usual.

"Uh..." Came from the collective crowd behind us, including Henry. All of the digimon degraded to their base forms and came back to us. The odd one out was Guilmon, or should I say, Guilmon X.

"What the heck happened to him!?" Takato cried upon seeing the new form. "Guilmon, are you ok?"

Guilmon nodded, the same cheerful look in his eyes. "I told you Takato, I'll still be me no matter what I am."

I looked at his sleek new form and looked back to the card, placing it back in my deck. "The X Antibody essentially powers him up more, and changes his appearance. I'm not sure if this is temporary or not, but it's pretty much a change for the better, honestly."

Guilmon grinned. "He's right, I feel stronger!" Guilmon began punching at the air, testing out his new form.

"Well... as long as Guilmon's happy." Takato said. "Come on boy, let's getcha home."

I nodded, "Yeah, we're gonna head that way too. Come on girls."

* * *

We arrived home and walked out back again, resuming our previous relaxation in the evening shade the house provided. Raia cuddled up nice and close and Renamon opted just to have her head on my shoulder.

"So..." Raia began, a curious tone creeping into her voice. "Does that X Antibody card work on us?"

"Nope." I said, a note of finality present to try to avoid explanation.

"Why not?" Came the inevitable response. "It worked on Guilmon!"

"Some digimon are born with the X Antibody," I began, gaining a bit of eager attention from Raia, while Renamon feigned nonchalance. "Others can contract it. Renamon can do neither."

"It's an antibody, but against what?" Renamon asked, obviously thinking a level deeper than most, as usual.

"A virus set to trigger when the Digital World reaches capacity." I replied. "98% will die, while the remaining two will be immune due to the antibody, and be taken to a new digital world. That's ages away though. For now, it really just upgrades power."

"Interesting." Renamon said. "So if we need not worry about that, what should we be preparing for?" It was at this point I realized I never told Renamon of my knowledge of future events.

"How would I know?" I said, hoping Raia wouldn't rat me out. She didn't have to though.

"Don't toy with me; I've seen how you have knowledge of the future. You must know..." I sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, I know. Do you even care how I know?"

"Of course." She replied plainly.

"This world is a work of fiction in the world I came from. Raia and I weren't a part of it, but you were. My presence here has altered some things, but the general timeline has remained intact."

"A work of fiction?" She said, skeptical as one would expect. "You truly expect me to believe that?"

"Believe it or don't, I wouldn't lie about something like that, it would be pointless." I shrugged, continuing. "As to the threat we face, there's a viral program hibernating beneath he digital world which we have to defeat, or it will destroy the digital world and possibly the human world. Although with the presence of those demon digimon before, I think we might have more on our plate."

"You mean you don't know?" Renamon said, the question in her voice harboring the slightest note of fear. My voice stayed steady, never betraying the fact that I really had _no_ clue as to what was going on with that. Honestly, the prospect of the unknown probably scared her more than me, simply because I figured that it was the universe attempting to balance out my and Raia's presence here. Still, the unknown variables made me wonder _just what_ we were going to be facing, and just what it had to do with Raia. She just appeared here too, right? Her past was something of a mystery though, as I'd never asked. _Maybe it's time I did..._ I shook the thoughts, deciding I needed to comfort Renamon despite my doubts.

"Nope, wasn't part of the canon. It has something to do with Raia. We'll figure it out, I'm certain, but we need to focus on the viral program, which is called D-Reaper, by the way, because that could be cataclysmic." I sighed deeply, not wanting to talk about such tense things. "Let's just relax, alright? Nothing to be done about it yet, we still have another two Devas to deal with."

"And then?" Raia asked.

"Then we go to the digital world."

* * *

A small purple figure sat on the top of a house, listening to the conversation between a tamer and his partners, then darting away to a small portal summoned specifically for him. From there, he entered the large fortress of his current "master" although he loathed the term. The digimon he served only had his service due to a business agreement.

"I got some dirt for ya!" He called down the immense darkened hallway his contract called home. "Whatcha got for me?"

The lord of this fortress sat on his throne, somewhat amused by the courage, or perhaps blind foolishness, of this rookie. Regardless of his disrespect, he was an asset at the moment, as his information was well worth the reward he would pay. "Tell me first, then you'll get what you came for."

The rookie told him of the Tamer's knowledge, of the D-Reaper, the X Antibody, and his possible knowledge of the master himself. The master was surprised by this influx of useful information, and was overly pleased. "Very good. You're the best informant I've had so far, the others have sucked pretty hard, honestly. As a result, you'll get your power." A stream of data flowed from one of the master's hands into the rookie. The rookie was empowered, but simultaneously irritated.

"Hey! You was supposed to make me digivolve!"

"You will, runt, in time. Your new power activates with expressions of wrath. Soon you will be the killing machine you've always wished to be."

The little purple demon huffed and began to walk out. "No good, lyin'..." He mumbled as he trudged back through the hallway.

_So,_ thought the lord as he leaned back in his throne. _He knows of the D-Reaper? Ugh, I can't prevent him from fighting it, lest I die along with the rest of the digital world. Perhaps I could split his attention though?_

"Master?" Came a female voice from a side hall.

"Yes?" he replied, hoping she would tell him what he wished for.

"They've hatched." She waved him into the side hall and showed him to a pen with 5 fresh digimon in it. "You need only to empower them." He grinned and did so, dark spirals of data flowing into each from his hands, causing them to progress to their first to their In-Training and then their Rookie forms.

"That's all they need for now. Let 'em grow a little bit more, then call me back in to finish 'em off." He walked back to his throne, excited at the prospect of 5 new minions to assist him, all of which would be stronger than his previous two. _It's all coming to together. Soon my forces will easily overtake that damned tamer, then my prize will be mine once again._ He sunk into his throne, fantasizing about the future based on memories of the past. _She will be __**mine**__ once more_.


	16. Chapter 16

Since we'd been off of Devas for a few days, thing began to settle somewhat. Renamon insisted on her patrols, but didn't really seem to be out of the house too much. Raia stuck around me a lot, as did Renamon when she wasn't out. I was honestly starting to get a bit bored, just because I was so used to all the activity, but my problem was solved by a combination of my guitars and the internet, which provided me with a large amount of entertainment. I switched back and forth between my electric and acoustic, mainly learning on the electric and practicing on the acoustic to make sure I had anything I played down. I'd played a fair amount before, but because of the lack of anything much else to do, I was able to really focus on it.

"Alright, how about this one…" I said, placing my hand in the starting position and plucking strings. **(/watch?v=JVGImutCMgg)** Raia sat across from me listening happily, probably glad that I'd gotten past the point where I'd randomly mess up and hit a harmonic that would hurt her ears. I played through the song, humming to the rhythm, but when I got to the final chorus I decided to fill in the ending lines. "And it takes you babe to make me smile. It takes you to make me smile." I smiled, glad I'd finally gotten it without a screw up. Raia was giving me a sort of sultry look, and I remembered she hadn't heard the actual song and that was the first time I'd sung any of it.

"I'm gonna play another one now," I said, a bit nervous about being molested, grabbed my electric, tuned a half-step up from the acoustic (half-step down from standard), and flicked on the amp. **(/watch?v=abJYXY3mPjs)** I started through the beginning riff and played along until the where the singer comes in. Before I knew it, I was singing along, only realizing it when I saw the pissed off look on Raia's face.

"Very romantic song." She said, sarcasm crammed into each syllable. "You play that one for all your girlfriends?"

I knew it was a bad idea, but a joke seemed appropriate. "Only one," I said with a smirk. "Pretty fitting in that case."

"Mhm." She was still a bit unhappy with me, as any woman would be after a guy played a song about a cheating ex-girlfriend, but I wracked my brain for another song that I knew that would remedy the tension. An idea sprang to my mind and I retrieved the acoustic again along with a chromatic tuner, and I put the acoustic down a stop before grabbing a pick and strumming away, singing softly along with the lead of the strings. **(/watch?v=qRLpkK7Csvc)** I pressed on through the short solo of the acoustic version of the song, praying to God I wouldn't screw up and ruin the effect. The lyrics may not have meant the right thing, but they sounded good enough on a casual listen. By the time I was done, Rai looked happy enough, leaning in to hug me.

"Much better." She said, breaking away from me long enough for me to set the guitar aside. She lightly brushed her lips to mine and stared me in the eyes. I had just long enough to wonder where this was going when the phone rang. Renamon appeared at my side after a moment and handed the phone, a cordless, to me.

"How long have you been home?" I asked, unsure of her coming and going in general.

She smirked. "Long enough." She sat over next to Raia and I could swear I heard something about 'my cheesy ass', but I ignored it and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, can Jeri become a tamer?"

"Are you asking permission?" I asked, knowing full well what was going on. But why spoil the chance for an entertaining conversation?

"No, I mean is it possible?"

"Well, sure it's possible. Does she have a digivice?"

"Let me ask." I heard him shout to Jeri and heard a muffled reply. "She said no."

"Well, her partner, has she been giving him strange looks, like you may have seen mine give me?"

"Well, yeah, actually."

"She _could _be a tamer, but I should probably head over to be sure."

"Alright. See ya then!"

"Yep." I hung up the phone and snickered. "Who wants to see a lion kick a rat's ass?"

**(Break)**

We arrived at the scene to find Leomon and Kumbhiramon going at it. I signaled not to go in and watched. For his size and the size of his weapon, he was repelling the little rat quickly and easily enough. Jeri began to become troubled at the display and took Takato's digivice and attempted several card swipes, but to no avail. The duel went on for quite some time, Kumbhiramon seeming unphased by Leomon's strikes.

"Quite the tenacious rodent!" Leomon taunted as Kumbhiramon came back for another attack. The little rat snickered, feinting and slipping beneath Leomon's resulting strike. He rammed into Leomon's stomach, knocking the air out of him.

"Deva clone!" The little beast called out, breaking into six clones and attempting to lock Leomon in a telekinetic barrier. Seeming to know he was screwed, Leomon tried to bound out of the circle of Kumbhiramon before they could close together and crush him in a sort of telekinetic singularity, but was struck back by the barrier which repelled him with force. Leomon was in a pretty dire situation, but I still signaled for Raia and Renamon to stay back.

"He's a warrior." I explained. "For him it's death or honor. So, if you take one, he'll take the other." Renamon relented, seeming to understand, as I'd expect her to, given her own unwritten honor code that was hard not to notice. Raia, conversely, groaned, probably irritated at another being following such an honor code.

"I don't understand the fixation on honor, really, what's the attraction?" She asked. I was going to reply but Renamon took over for me.

"Some of us have nothing else." She said, keenly watching Leomon slide his blade flat beneath one of the rat clones and flip him into the circle, breaking it before they could close him in completely. "You may not get it, but when everything is taken from you, you survive on your name, the only thing no one can take from you. Loss of honor is by your own actions, never by those of another." The rat hit the ground and rolled into the center; the barrier collapsed and crashed the Kumbhiramon together, reintegrating them.

"Seems like a stupid reason to kill yourself in pointless fights. Pride, a cardinal sin, leading to hubris, an epic tragedy." Raia said. I blinked hard for a moment, considering what she'd said and turned to her.

"Have you been looking into my mind again?" I asked, wondering just _where_ in the holy hell she got something like that, completely out of her more simple nature. "I haven't heard you say something like that since we met."

"I'm not an idiot, Caleb." She said with derision. "I just don't think all the time."

"You must've been made for me then." I said, turning back to the fight. "Because I've said those words, truthfully, more than once."

Leomon had leveled his blade at the rat, staring him down. "Where is your Sovereign now?" He asked.

"I am a servant of God, yet I am defeated by a lower digimon?" The pathetic rodent said, more to himself than Leomon.

"Sounds like a pretty weak god then." Terriermon said. I realized he hadn't gone into the battle when he spoke and began to examine the whole encounter as Henry scolded him for his comment. None of this followed the canon. In fact, less and less of the plot was remaining unchanged the longer I stuck around.

"He's right, human." Kumbhiramon said, interrupting Henry as he reprimanded Terriermon. "My sovereign is weak, and I am a fool." Leomon's gaze softened and he sheathed his blade. "Why're you stopping? You've won, just kill me and put me out of my misery!"

Leomon shook his head. "No, you were misled. You were led by the weak and thereby became weak." Leomon walked past him, into the sunset and turned back to the defeated opponent. "Challenge me when you become strong, I'll be waiting. 'For a wounded man shall said to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you-'"

"'If I die, you are forgiven.' I know the code of honor, beast king." Kumbhiramon forced himself to his feet and leapt to a tree. "Expect me." And with that, he was gone.

Leomon grinned and walked away, saying a single word as he did so. "Omerta."

A few moments passed, everyone was silent and the boys were fairly stupefied by the display they'd witnessed, but then the peace was shattered.

"Well _that _was stupid." Raia said.

"Shut up." Renamon and I said.

"This honor crap." Raia said, shrugging.

"Let's just go home." As I turned to walk away from the still confused group, I felt a pull on my hoodie. I turned back to see Jeri behind me and she made a motion for me to lean down to her. I crouched low to match her height and she whispered in my ear. Renamon and Raia stared in interest, as did everyone else. Jeri finished whispering and I stood up and tousled her hair. "Of course," I said in reply to her. "I know that I have, twice, actually." I wrote a number on a piece of paper for her, turned, and began to walk away. After we'd gotten some distance away, both Renamon and Raia began to pester me about what Jeri had asked.

"Well damn, aren't you both nosey?" I chuckled a bit and explained. "She asked me if it was possible to fall in love with a digimon, and I said 'yes, I have twice'. Simple as that."

"And the paper?" Renamon asked, Raia nodding briskly and eagerly as she did.

"Home phone number, in case she has a question, because I doubt she'd get good advice from Takato or Henry, as if she'd even call 'em."

"You want to help someone else love a digimon?" Raia asked, like the concept was somehow ironically strange to her.

"Yeah, if she thinks it'll make her happy. God knows it made me happy." They both smiled and hugged me, one on each side. "Now, if the interrogation's over, can we go home?" They both agreed and we whipped through the evening air, arriving home around the time the sun was set. I walked through the house slowly, entering the bedroom alone for once.

"You two coming?" I called out, stripping down and changing to comfortable clothes.

Renamon replied. "Not right now, we'll be in later." I shrugged, crawling into bed.

"Alright, don't stay up too late arguing, and try not to wake me up." I said half-serious, hoping I wouldn't wake up to an argument to break up.

**(Break)**

Renamon had held Raia back, whispering "We need to talk." before letting their tamer head to bed.

"So, what do we need to talk about?" Raia asked, pretending she didn't know. The tension between them had gone down recently, but there was still a serious grind there and it needed to be dealt with.

"We both know, don't play stupid." Despite being without her original tamer for so long, the personality which had rubbed off on her so heavily still reared up occasionally. "We don't mesh, and we need to fix that. We can't properly act as a team unless we can actually work together."

"And just how would you suggest we do so?" Raia asked as she walked to the couch and sat down, Renamon taking the end opposite her.

"Well, I suppose we could state what we don't like about each other and go from there."

Raia gave her a curious look. "Fine, but you start."

Renamon sighed. "You are, in the shortest terms I can state it, a crybaby. Every time something goes wrong, you run right to Caleb and make him comfort you. It shows weakness, and I can't respect that."

"Alright. My turn." Raia tried to prevent any venom from anger at the criticism from bleeding into her speech. "I don't understand your whole fixation with "honor" and all that crap. It's stupid, regarding the opinions of other people over those of yourself. Who gives a damn if people think you're a horrible person? I understand the need for respect, but your idea of honor takes it to a whole new level."

Renamon looked her in the eye and spoke very clearly. "Answer this question honestly. Do you remember anything before coming to this world?"

Raia shook her head. "No, why does that matter?"

"You don't have any memory of living in a village? With a tribe?" Raia shook her head. "That explains it. You weren't raised as I was. Where I came from, honor meant everything. My tribe fought for what they wanted, killed for what they earned. The reason I even came to this world is because I was the best fighter we had. Legends told that our village would provide a partner for one of the saviors of the digital world, who would cross over to the real world. I still remember my last fight clearly."

**(Break)**

The rank stench of binary blood filled the air of the village, the origin being the crimson-stained earth of the sparring circle. Fights had been taking place all day, in fact through the past few days. Two contenders remained. One was a young female, nimble and spry, and the other was a tank of a creature, large and strong. The smaller of the two, the female, kept herself light on her feet as she prepared for the fight. The larger, a male whose fur had been coated in blood from his wins, simply stood and cracked his knuckles. A stick was brought to the ground and the fight began.

The female dashed in and swept her lithe form around the hulk's thrashing limbs, barely avoiding blows of bone-crushing force. While she could dodge, she couldn't press back, and was forced to the edge of the circle. The circle was merely aesthetic, however, marking where the fights would begin; some battles travelled far across the barren valley, far out of sight of the village. This hardly crossed her mind as she continued to retreat. The titan grew weary of this constant chase and threw a particularly heavy blow at the female, barely missing her. She used his arm as a step and vaulted over, taking him by the head and throwing him to the ground with momentum created by his own weight. As she landed, she spun and brought her own arm down on him, blue flames engulfing her paw as she did. The strike hurt, that much was clear, but the giant of a Renamon stood, still clinging to life and managed to seize the female by the arm.

A wicked smile ripped across his face as he took advantage, swinging her around and smacking her to the ground like a ragdoll. After half a dozen impacts, the female caught a break and landed with her feet on the ground, and while she was still chained to the behemoth by his iron grip, she could use that to her advantage. She sprung over him, vaulting as she had before. As she landed, she transferred as much of the momentum to her arm as she could. The result was the male leaving the ground, swinging over the top of her, the force nearly ripping her arm from the socket, and crashing to the ground. This time, the beast could not rise, but he wasn't quite dead yet. She stared down at him, nearly dead herself.

"You can't do it." He muttered from the ground. "You aren't strong enough." She remained silent, tears streaming down her face from the pain in her shoulder. "You should just give in and leave. If you cannot best me, then what chance do you have in the real world? You are weak, look at you, crying! Have you no honor? If I could move, I would kill you, then myself for allowing you to do this much."

The female began to stumble away, gripping her shoulder and wincing from any movement. "That's right little one, run! One such as you hasn't even the courage to rid the world of your plague!" The female continued on, moving to where the fight had begun. She seemed to fall to the ground, but pressed back to standing and returned to the male. "Back again? Why have you not left yet?"

"Shut your damn mouth." She said. "The honorable die in silence, as should you." She brandished the stick used to signal the beginning and brought it down on his head with as much force as she could muster. The blow sunk in and after a moment the stick dropped through a cloud of data, which was absorbed quickly by the female.

**(Break)**

"That's why I believe in honor, and why I despise those complain." Renamon said as she stood. "Come to bed if you wish." With that, she padded off to the bedroom, lying next to her tamer and pulling him into an embrace.

Raia didn't move though. She sat and reflected over the story she'd heard, resolving to become stronger like Renamon had. They may not have become friends as her tamer had wished, but a connection began to form between the two kitsunes.


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright, so I've hit a couple problems due to my change in schedule, so things are going to become kind of hectic after chapter 20. I already planned to go on hiatus here and begin an 11 chapter story elsewhere, but that story is proving difficult to write in the time I have, so it might take a while. When that is finished, I'll come back to this. Rest assured, I have this story written out to 20 and it will be posted regularly until then, so there won't be a change for a couple weeks.**

I woke up feeling one warmth, not two, and instantly began to investigate. Renamon was right next me, clutching me fairly tight, but Raia was nowhere to be seen. I swung my legs out from the bed and looked out my bedside window. It was raining, hard, and that got me in a good mood. A crack of thunder broke the silence and as the echo faded, the pounding rain began to come into focus. I stood, a smile on my face and walked out of the room, not sure whether or not Renamon followed. I walked into the dark living room, the heavy clouds in the sky killing off most of the outside light, to find Raia curled up on the couch. She looked adorable, honestly, and I almost couldn't bear to stroke her cheek for fear of waking her, but I did anyways. I also couldn't resist the temptation to lay down on the couch with her. Just as I got in place, her eyes fluttered open and she groaned groggily. She opened her eyes fully and, upon seeing me, promptly shoved me onto the floor.

"What the hell!" I called out from the hardwood floor. She simply giggled lightly in response and rolled over. I stood, involuntarily dusting myself off. "Well shit, what'd I do to you?"

She grunted and giggled. "Nooooothin'." Another giggle.

"Alright, this is great, it's…" I checked the clock. "8 am and we've already said 'fuck logic'. It's gonna be a great day, I can _feel _it." Another giggle sounded from the couch. Seems I'm a freakin' comedian today.

"So, one more Deva, right?" Renamon said, walking from the bedroom. "Then we're off to the digital world?"

"Yep." I chirped, walking to door leading outside. "And if you like chaos, today you'll be like a pig in shit." I laughed a bit, knowing that weren't the pigs, but we were definitely the ones in shit. "I'm gonna step outside for a bit, wake up Raia for me."

Renamon stared at me. "It's a downpour out there." I grinned and nodded.

"Kinda the point, dear." I said, stepping out and letting the cold, wet air wash over my skin as the rain quickly hammered my clothes down, adding weight near-instantly. I closed my eyes and place my hands at the back of my head, enjoying the feeling of the rain drenching me.

* * *

Renamon stared at her tamer as he stood in the rain, enjoying it as if it were a summer breeze. She sighed. She'd never understand him and his strange ways, she knew that. Her eyes were averted to the sleeping form on the couch. She poked Raia, rousing her a bit, but when the silver Renamon refused to raise, Renamon did the first thing she could think of.

Raia was awoken to being yanked to the floor. "Sorry! Crap, I didn't think it hurt or anything!" She said, her eyes shut tight. After a moment, she opened them to find Renamon standing over her.

"What are you talking about?"

Raia rose, stretching as she did so. "Caleb came out here and laid down with me and I pushed him off the couch."

Renamon stared at her in confusion. "Why did you do that?"

"I thought he was trying to comfort me for sleeping out here or something and I didn't want him to." She explained, realizing how stupid that logic was. "I've decided I don't want him to comfort me anymore, I don't need him to."

"Well-" Renamon was cut off by the door opening, Caleb walking in and down the hall, trailing a river behind him, towards the bathroom, probably to shower. "Good lord. Our tamer is a total nutcase."

"Yeah, but I still love him." Raia said, stifling a laugh at her tamer's antics.

"I know," Renamon said, knowing there was a lot of good beneath that outer layer of foolishness. "I do too."

* * *

My shower was quick and felt pretty good since I was already wet. I got some clean clothes and went back out into the living room. As I did, Renamon rose at my presence.

"Caleb, will the Deva today be particularly troublesome? I mean, Kumbhiramon was hardly a problem."

I nodded. "Short of Indramon, this is probably our biggest problem. If you were wanting to scout, I'd just ask that you check and pre-warn us of him if you can."

"I'll try to pick up on disturbances, but that's about the most I can do." I nodded.

"If that's all you can do, that's all I can really ask, isn't it?" I embraced her briefly and gave her a quick kiss. "Be careful, be safe. Head back any time you get a whiff of the Deva." She nodded and left. This was convenient for me, because I needed some alone time with Raia, but not for the usual reasons. I sat on the couch and pulled Raia down onto it with me.

"Raia, can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?" He voice was curious, and I hoped this topic wouldn't be a rough one.

"Do you remember anything from before you came to this world?"

"Have you been talking to Renamon?"

What the hell was she talking about? Great, now I had to ask Renamon about this shit too. "Uh, no."

"Oh, well, not really." I sighed, knowing this had been something of a hopeless endeavor. "I can remember bits and pieces, but I don't have any actual memories."

My ears perked at this new information and I decided to inquire again. "What kinds of bits and pieces?"

She looked a bit troubled in the face, as if it were hard for her to remember. "Dark things. I remember a lot of black, swirling darkness, that kind of thing. There was a lot of hatred where I came from, I can feel it."

"Do you think it has something to do with the Demon Digimon we fought? They seemed really interested in you."

"I would have to say so, but I really can't make any solid connection." She sighed, obviously frustrated. "Sorry I can't remember more. I hate that all of this happens because of me."

I smiled and kissed her. "You're worth the trouble." She took on a bashful look and probably blushed beneath her fur. I smiled at how cute she was when she was embarrassed and pulled her into a hug. "I've lost you once, and I damn sure won't let anything even try to get you again."

"I hope you can live up to that." She muttered into my shoulder, unsure. "Because I'm not so certain."

* * *

Renamon rushed through the house, nearly knocking down a ton of shit in the process.I heard her coming and turned to see her dripping all over the floor, drenched from the rain.

"Guess it's time?" She nodded briskly, her eyes wide open. "Alright, well, I guess we'll be having pork ribs for dinner." She looked at me as if I were insane as I stood and gathered my supplies, meanwhile, Raia woke up from the nap she'd been taking and stood to stretch.

"Do you not understand how big this thing is!?" Renamon asked franticly. She hadn't been this worked up in the show, or _ever_ from my understanding.

"'Bout seven stories if I remember. We'll be fine." I looked back to Renamon and saw her shaking her head, her eyes looking genuinely fearful. "How far off am I?"

"Try twice that size." My eyes went wide and my mind sped up. _Twice the size!? Shit the bed, we're beyond screwed._

"We'll be alright." I flat out lied. "Let's just get there so we can get a jump on him."

I walked out the door and waited to be phased, Renamon undoubtedly shaking her head in derision of my apparent ignorance of the clear and present danger. Hardly the truth though, I was every bit as fearful as she was, but I wasn't about to show it. The phase hit me, a feeling I was just beginning to get used to. Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a crowded street, chaos surrounding me as a people ran in all directions, seeking shelter. I saw Takato and Henry a ways off to the left, but my attention was pulled to the right as a form came into being; grey, shadowed, and shifting at first, then slowly coming into clarity. Renamon had been right, he was bigger than I thought, because he was bigger than he was _supposed_ to be. I barely had time to consider the odds of the fight when he fully emerged, his weight dropping to the ground and cracking the earth beneath him, sending out shockwaves that toppled some of the people who were running, causing them to be trampled quickly, but they were barely a concern at this point. Vikaralamon was going to go on a rampage, and I wasn't sure we could stop him.

My first measure, one copied by the others, was to digivolve Renamon and Raia, but that wouldn't be nearly enough. I looked back and spotted Calumon in Jeri's arms. _Perfect, take an early edge, maybe we can take this big bastard down._ I ignored that they were here pretty early and instead focused intently and laid a hand on my deck, only drawing when I felt a strange heat on my fingertips. I whipped the card out, slashing it through the card slots as quick as I could. Two Taomon stood before me and I smiled.

"I told you two how to do that, and you damn sure better do it!" I called back to Takato and Henry, and a few moments later I saw Rapidmon dashing through the air toward the mammoth hog, who was trudging down the street already, followed by WarGrowlmon X. Apparently the effect was permanent, but the X Antibody's additive power was welcome at this point. It was at that very moment it came into focus. _Of course! Vikaralamon is bigger because he has to be! The universe is scaling to the changes I make! Glad I didn't do something stupid like trying to alter Raia's power levels, we'd have been _seriously_ screwed._

Rapidmon was zipping all around Vikaralamon, laying down hits where he could, but it was bee stings to the beast, more of a distraction until WarGrowlmon X could get in and lay down some hits. WarGrowlmon X was really the only one who looked like he could make a shit's worth of difference, standing close to two stories himself. While Vikaralamon was busy rearing his head at Rapidmon, WarGrowlmon X got to one of the legs and began hacking at it with his arm blades, doing more than Rapidmon, but still not much. Both of them had to keep moving though, as Vikaralamon was not about to let them tie him down to one spot. I shot an arm out at Vikaralamon, a signal for Raia and Taomon to go in, both of them brandishing their brushes as they flew in. Taomon launched scrolls at Vikaralamon in as large a mass as she could manage, while Raia used her brush to create a shield on Rapidmon, who remained the focus for Vikaralamon. The fight wasn't progressing quickly, but they were laying some serious hurt down on Vikaralamon and slowing his never-ending romp down the road, so we were starting to get there. Just as my confidence was building, I looked back to find Henry and Takato running towards me, pointing at the sky. I turned away from them and noticed the data stream leading from Vikaralamon to the sky and I suddenly remembered my serious oversight in this fight. Juggernaut was powering up and was about to fire.

Just then, the Digimon began to glitch, stopping dead in their tracks and being stretched upward toward HYPNOS. _It's firing! Goddamn it!_

"Juggernaut's coming online!" I said to Takato and Henry, who'd just gotten to me. Vikaralamon roared in laughter though, ignoring the Juggernaut and taking the advantage to kick WarGrowlmon X down and try to step on him, but the foot was barely pressed up by the Digimon beneath. Meanwhile, Raia extended Rapidmon's shield, herself and Taomon making a beeline to get inside it. With all these developments, I was left with only the ability to state the obvious. "We are _so_ screwed."


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry about the wait, I got caught up in shit and forgot to post. 4 hours of math a night will do that to you.**

"Maka!" A shriek sounded across the war-torn city street. My eyes immediately darted to where Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta were standing. Makuramon dashed by them, ripping Calumon from Jeri's arms and launching high into the air. As he rose, he pitched his orb at the vortex forming above that was tearing the sky in half. Somehow or another, it caused the Juggernaut to back fire, freeing us of the effect quickly, leaving me to solve our other current problems, like Vikaralamon making a WarGrowlmon X pancake. "Maka!" Makuramon sounded off again, entering the rip high above. A thunderous crack sounded off and the heavy rain which had persisted the fight began to turn red. _Oh, you have got to be kidding me._

"Heh, first they crack the skye, and now it's raining blood? Well, it's sad but true; I have to thank that shit pitcher for saving our asses." Taomon, Raia, and Rapidmon left the shield and re-focused on Vikaralamon, knowing they needed to save WarGrowlmon X's ass. "Takato? You need to do something, man." Takato had been caught up in the whole spectacle as much as I had, but I needed to get him to focus.

"Huh? Oh, right!" He shook his head, his focus returning to his partner. "What should I do?"

"Scan a card for strength, but you're gonna have to help him out." I tapped my skull. "Mental link, remember? Gotta use it from time to time." Takato nodded, searching through his deck for a sufficient card. Meanwhile, knowing the girls were doing fine for a moment, I decided to take stock of our surroundings. The skyline was drawn by crushed and shattered buildings, which had been lost in the fight, the street was covered in spidering cracks from Vikaralamon's every step, and the sky was a dark color, dominated by the clouds which continued their seemingly bloody rain. Rapidmon was moving slower, losing energy from extended form maintenance, but then everyone was suffering from that. I looked to my own partners, finding that Taomon was nursing an arm, although she was trying to hide the injury, while Raia was exhausted from maintaining the shield on Rapidmon. Neither of them made the weaknesses obvious, but they were dead giveaways to me, and I knew this had to end soon. Vikaralamon, despite his tank-like nature, was being worn down, albeit slowly, but he was getting close. Much more punishment and he would be done for. All we needed was for WarGrowlmon X to get back into the fight and it could end soon.

"Alright." I analyzed the beast and decided we'd have to play a little dirty to give Takato a hand. "Go for the eyes!" I called out. Raia stared at me, confused, I guess, but Taomon understood and flew at Vikaralamon and drove the handle of her brush deep into his left eye. He reared up out of pain and WarGrowlmon X rolled out from beneath him. I looked to Takato and his posture told me he was synced up with his partner. I normally would have grinned, glad to have the advantage again, but this really just put us back on par, equalizing the playing field. The fight began to stall again, calling for someone to make a move. Out of balls or stupidity, I'm never sure which when it comes to me, I reached through my mental link and began to guide Raia's movements, drawing a symbol with her brush.

_What the hell are you doing?_ Raia asked mentally, attracting the attention of Taomon, who was also included in the link. I tossed a brainwave her way, telling her to withdraw her brush and fall back, then returning my focus to Raia's brush work. _You'll see._ I pinged back, finishing the kanji I'd begun drawing. The symbol burned into the boar's thick hide, revealing itself as the kanji of fire, one of the few I actually knew. The massive digimon began to buck and roar in pain as the drawing continued to sear his skin. I scanned a power card of some sort, Hyper-speed or Strength, one of the like, signaling the beginning of the next wave of assault.

"Strike while he's weak!" I roared in an almost inhuman voice, which would have scared me, had I not been focusing on the fight. Taomon resumed her prior tactics while Raia drew Talismans of Light, one after another, to counter the black muck that Vikaralamon began to spew out of desperation. She began this after Rapidmon was captured by it once and continued it, seeing as Vikaralamon was still spitting up the bog. Rapidmon, speaking of which, began to pepper his target with rockets and projectiles of all sorts, hoping to cause some damage. All of this, however, was a distraction, and we all knew it. We weren't doing shit, that became very clear quite quickly. Takato, as and linked to WarGrowlmon X, sauntered up to the beast and began laying down heavy hits. Slash after slash hit the monster, but it was obvious that his standard attacks wouldn't be enough. Takato began to roar in his own voice, which began to distort, as his partner's blended with it. The dual tones echoed beside me and I could tell a big attack was coming. Although I was unsure, I decided to motion to fall back over the mental link. Taomon ceased her scroll barrage and Raia spun her brush, excess ink flying from the tip, and brought it to her side before both retreated, although they didn't turn, their eyes never left the enemy, in case he were to try to strike them down. Either Herny did the same as me or Rapidmon wasn't dense enough to ignore the fact that he was out there alone now. Whichever it was, he fell back as well, returning to his tamer's side, as my partners did. As they approached, both degraded to their rookie forms, and I saw that Terriermon had done the same. I sighed inwardly, knowing they couldn't last any longer. I looked to WarGrowlmon X, knowing he was our single hope here, and the knowledge that he would soon fold as the others had hung over my head, like a lethal weight, just waiting to drop. WarGrowlmon X primed himself for an attack, but Vikaralamon did as well, looking as if he were about to spray another load of Boar Bog.

Just as both seemed ready to strike, another roar echoed across the barren and decimated street, it's origin being the young boy next to me, possessing a voice unlike any human ever had or should. The cannon in his partner's chest was fully primed and a red bloom began to shoot from it as he shot, just as Vikaralamon released his bog all over the red dragon. The bloom cut through it, though, piercing the darkness and spearing the immense beast, draining all expression from the face as black slime dripped from his maw. After the blast subsided, WarGrowlmon X collapsed, his from disappearing into the bog. Takato shook himself from the mental link which had dominated him and ran to his partner. I looked pleadingly at both my partners, but found that neither was in the condition to be able to reassume their ultimate forms to disperse the bog. Renamon's arm was not just injured, but borderline on a compound fracture, and Raia wasn't simple exhausted, her right leg had been bashed, swelling heavily around the knee. I would've been surprised if I didn't have to carry them home, but damn if they hadn't soldiered through the fight.

"Jesus Christ," I said, unsure of just what to do, "What did I let happen to you two!?" I did the first thing which came to my mind and gently pulled Renamon into an embrace, but a wince of pain and a faint whine, a noise I never thought I'd hear out of her, told me to release her.

"Ribs." She said, her voice breathy and weak. "Fractured, or broken." I fell to the ground, utterly at a loss. How could I have let them get this hurt? What the hell had been going through my mind that caused me to ignore this? This is my fault.

I must have uttered the last thought as Raia tried to kneel, but inevitably fell to the ground beside me, bringing new waves of guilt over me. My mind wracked by self-accusations of fault, I was pulled back to reality by the embrace of a pained creature. Raia was hugging me, ignoring the pain which she was obviously enduring. "Not your fault." She said, her eyes telling me truth laid in her words. "We'd have stopped if there was another way. Sacrifices must be made." She looked up to Renamon who nodded.

"You shouldn't be the ones to sacrifice." I said, my eyes to the ground, unable to meet theirs despite the lack of blame being thrust at me. "You've both already given up for me, when comes the time I sacrifice for you?" My arms lay useless at my sides, ignoring Raia's careful embrace pressing on them.

"That time will come," Renamon said, wisdom her primary tone. "But we are partners, and we wouldn't stick around if it wasn't worth it, right? We aren't stupid." I nodded, my conscience not cleared, but partially cleansed at least. I stood slowly, pulling Raia onto my shoulder so I could carry her. She began to pound on my back, throwing a fit.

"Let me down!" She cried. "I want to walk!"

"Are you fucking crazy? That leg isn't gonna sustain a pound of your weight, you'll collapse after a step!" Raia was undeterred, continuing to pound on my back until I was forced to release her. I leaned and gently let her to the ground, my reluctance hardly concealed.

"Thank you." She said. "I don't need to be carried through life, I can support my own weight."

I sighed. "Raia, I love both you and Renamon. I'd carry you from the depths of hell with lead shoes on if it meant I could save you from unhappiness. I don't see 'carrying you through life' as a burden, whether that's metaphorical or not. You, both of you, are worth it." I placed an arm lightly around each of their necks, kissing both of them on the cheek. "I can honestly say I'd die for you both, and I've never said that about anyone."

"Anyone?" Raia asked, somewhat bashful at the sudden emotion of the moment. "You haven't ever felt that way before?"

"Are you kidding me?" I replied. "No one from my universe is worth a damn, that's for sure. You two are the only thing I've ever had that hasn't had some Faustian twist to it." My mind wandered to all of the downright stupid things I'd had to endure in the name of caring for a person. "Naw, you two… You two are worth all the bullshit I've dealt with combined."

"We should get home… it's getting late and we need to recover." Renamon said, stuttering slightly. I grinned and nodded.

"Did I get the iron-willed fox all bashful too?" I teased. "Yeah, we'll get home in a minute, but I need to check on the others first, alright?" They nodded briskly and I left to briefly check on the status of the troops. Takato had recovered Guilmon X from the bog, and although he was still coated in the black muck, he was in decent enough shape. I told them goodbye for the night and headed over to Henry. Terriermon was pretty bruised up, but Henry assured me he'd live, so I bid them a good night as well, instructing Henry to inform me if any of them discovered a way for us to track down Makuramon and, by extension, Calumon. He nodded, replying he'd call me as soon as he had an answer.

I returned to my partners and pulled Raia's arm over my shoulder to support her weight, despite her protests. We returned home and I put them in the bed and insisted that I sleep on the couch so they could rest properly, since a crowded bed and two injured didn't sound like it'd mix well. They caved after I ordered them to do it, as their tamer, a move which I despised pulling, but found a necessary measure this time. From the looks of them, it looked as if I'd spend the next day playing the roles of doctor and servant bitch. _Wonderful_, I thought, _just how having a girlfriend used to be, me serving at beck and call._ I smiled as I lay on the couch, falling asleep knowing they wouldn't abuse the privilege.


	19. Yes, it's late, kill me over it later

"If you move from that bed again, I'll kill you where you stand!" I yelled as I left the bedroom. All morning, it had been the same thing, both of them wanted to be up and moving around. At first, I thought they may have healed that quickly, until Raia took one step and faceplanted. From there, I hauled her ass back into the bed and instructed them not to move. They objected every time I entered and left, but I was unwavering. "Now let me go get something for you two to drink." I retrieved two large cups from the kitchen and filled them with water, no ice. When I came back, the two of them seemed to be engaged in a staring match, both sitting crosslegged and facing the other. I tried to hand them the cups and they both snatched a cup and downed the contents faster than I thought possible.

"What the hell are you two doing?"

"We are seeing who is the best at mimicking the actions of the other. Anytime either of us makes a move, the other has a quarter of a second to mimic the action exactly." Both of them said, in what I perceived to be perfect unison. One of them had to have led that, according to those rules. I knew they were bored, so I ignored the stupidity and absurdity of the whole thing and decided to go with it.

"So who actually started that explanation?"

"Her." Both said. I glared at the wall, deciding there was no real way to know who was being a smartass.

"Care to give me an acknowledgeable answer? Remember, humans can't process things shorter than a half-second or so."

"Renamon came up with the rules." They said, and after a pause they began again. "And Raia made the smartass remark." I laughed. That was Renamon, it had to be. I was glad she was finally gaining a good sense of humor, or at least one on par with mine.

"Well, can I participate?"

"You can't replicate movements this well, you know that." Honestly, the speech was getting a bit creepy, they were both using the same monotone voice, like the kids from The Shining.

"Yeah, I know, but I can create a "challenge" if you let me, just to keep things interesting." Without permission, I began to run my finger along to the length or Renamon's ear. She shivered ever so slightly and I watched Raia replicate it perfectly. _Oh, this is gonna be fun_. I shifted over to Raia and let feather-touch fingers glide down her spine and then pressure the base of her tail. A deep groan came from inside of her, and surprisingly, Renamon replicated it flawlessly. "Oh, you two are good at this. I'm gonna have to ramp it up a bit." They both made a noise of nervous discomfort, but remained still. I moved around behind Renamon and placed my hands on her stomach, stroking gently, and lowered my head to the back right side of her neck. I sucked on a single spot and pressed my teeth down with a bit of pressure, just enough for her to not be able to ignore it. Try as she might, Renamon couldn't hold back a quiet moan, and Raia provided me with a mirror of Renamon's face, giving me a good indication of how I doing as a distraction.

I grinned at my success and slid off the bed and walked around to Raia's side. I paused for a moment and gave Renamon a wink, letting her know she was about to have a hard time keeping up. I reached down over Raia's shoulder and laid a splayed out palm on her lower stomach and slowly retracted it, raising my palm off of her and allowing the fingers to drag when I reached her ruff, until I came to rest on her neck. My other hand took her by the side of the head and slowly guided her face to the side so I could lean in and kiss her. I pressed my lips to hers and used my hand at the back of her head for leverage, but I kept an eye on Renamon who looked downright strange as she mimicked the scene before her. She was faithful to the act though, never missing a beat. I released Raia, who returned to facing Renamon, although the heat I'd felt on her cheeks told me she was blushing pretty hard.

"Alright, this is inhuman, really." I paused and both of them were looking at me, the exact same way, of course. "Is there really nothing else we can do that would entertain the two of you?" Both of them looked at me suggestively, but I shook my head, explaining that if they couldn't walk, then they damn sure couldn't do _that_.

"Well, could we at least go outside? You know how much I hate to be in the house all day." Renamon was right, as she almost always was, they could use the fresh air. If they couldn't walk, however…

"Goddamn it." I muttered as I carried Renamon out of the bedroom. I'm a big guy, and I can carry a good bit of weight, but she was hardly light. Her arms were around my neck, though, and her affectionate nuzzling made up for the effort. We passed through the door and she kissed me on the cheek and smiled when we reached one of the relatively unused chairs I'd found in the house after searching for something for them to sit in. I set her gently in the chair and instructed her not to move. When I returned for Raia, I found her attempting to walk again, although she was more shuffling along due to her heavy limp. She must've grown frustrated just as I walked in and tried to put pressure on the bad knee, causing her to go to the floor. I rushed to her, falling to my knees next to her. She was relatively unharmed, no more than she had been that is, but she was upset.

"Damn it! I'm so useless!" I groaned inwardly. _This shit again? Alright, time for a one on one talk, Renamon will have to wait._

"Why are you so damn stubborn about this?" I asked, my tone almost scolding. "I told you that I'm perfectly fine with helping you!"

"You never have to help Renamon, she's able to stand on her own, but I'm not!" Her voice cracked a bit and I started stroking her back in an attempt to calm her down. No need for an emotional outburst, especially if she might do something that could injure her further.

I shook my head. "She's not. She needs me just as much as you do. Hell, I just carried her outside and her legs aren't even that injured. I'm here for both of you, physically, emotionally, however I'm needed, because I know you're there for me as well." I wrapped my arms around her and brushed my lips against hers, embracing her lightly for fear of hurting her. "Why the hell do you hate relying on me so much?"

"Renamon told me about what she had to go through to get to this world; she said I'd believe in honor more if I remembered what happened to me before I came to this world." She turned her face from mine in what I'd assume was shame. I sighed, trying to think of a way to explain why the way she acted wasn't at all bad.

"You know, I actually prefer the two of you this way, like opposites of a coin." My eye caught the image on the wrist on her arm guard, the Taijitu, the "Yin-Yang". "You two are just like the symbol on your arm guard, a representation of two forms, dominant and submissive. She is dominant and you're submissive, which is fine, you help achieve balance." She looked down to her arm guard as I spoke and then back to me, smiling.

"Thanks." She said quietly, bashful from my attention again. I couldn't understand why both Raia and Renamon were so bashful to my attention, but I decided they may have just been humble like that. I smiled back and took her into my arms, slowly lifting her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck as Raia had, nuzzling her head deep into my neck.

"No problem," I said, standing up somewhat awkwardly with her in my arms. "Now let's get to Renamon before she starts wondering if we're having sex without her.

**(Break)**

Raia insisted that I not set her down when we got outside, so Renamon and I sat in the chairs and looked at the sky, with Raia on my lap, nuzzling against my chest as if I were going to disappear if she didn't. The sky was filled with the sort of clouds my mother had used to take pictures of, ones that made me wish I could fly just for the ability to explore the landscape above.

"So, are you two ready to go home?" I asked, a hint of eagerness in my voice.

"Home?" They replied simultaneously. The look they shot each other told me it was accidental, but it's not like they hadn't spoken in unison before…

"Yeah, Calumon was captured, so we have to go to the digital world to get him." I stated. "The digital world is essentially your home."

"I hardly regard it that way." Renamon said with a bitter tone.

"Oh God, don't start in with the "home is where the heart is" crap, please." I said, not wanting to have some mushy cliché contest.

"No, the digital world is a savage place. Raia, you know, you've seen it." Raia nodded in reply.

"I might be a bit biased though, given how the area I traveled through was inhabited by the dark and demonic types of digimon, rather than any other."

"Trust me, other areas are hardly a paradise." Renamon began. "My home was a rocky wasteland that stretched for miles. It was a forest at one time, or so the myths say, but it doesn't look much like it now. Water is scarce at best and vegetation of any sort is unheard of entirely. The legends say that a tribe of ours angered Ebonwumon, resulting in him casting a drought over our home. Within a few decades, the forests my people had known disappeared, leaving us with a wasteland that would have been unlivable to most. But my home is but a kilo to the teras of the digital world. Like Raia stated, there is a large patch of harsh land imbued with the element of darkness, and likewise, there are others empowered by light, but neither are welcoming. The lands of light are filled with deadly creatures that aren't afraid of being seen, they are brave and powerful, but the darkness is filled with the worst kind of cowards and assassins that you would ever see, or rather that you wouldn't. They thrive off of their apparent invisibility in the shadows and manipulate it to their advantage."

I nodded, listening intently, as did Raia, whose memories were only of what she'd traveled through to get back home. I thought for a moment, picking out key words from Renamon's description. "Do the sovereigns rule over certain areas specifically?"

Renamon nodded. "Jungles and forested lands, as well as islands and oceans, are watched over by Ebonwumon, the skies and areas of heat and flames are ruled by Zhuqiaomon, the lands of the insect and beast digimon are overseen by Azulongmon, Baihumon rules the Metal Empire, and the lands of light and darkness are commanded by Fanglongmon, the leader of the sovereigns." Renamon fell silent, but by the looks of her, she was deep in thought, no doubt contemplating the challenges we'd face, which only she truly knew.

"Interesting, each sovereign rules the areas which match to their attributes." _Someone was pretty in-depth when they created this whole thing. _I smiled, reaching a hand out to stroke Renamon's shoulder, breaking her from her thoughts. "Don't worry, we'll be alright. I won't let anything happen to you two." Renamon smiled weakly, and I could see I hadn't convinced her. Was the digital world really going to be that harsh?


	20. Double shot, since it's late

Jeri crawled out her window to sit on her roof next to Leomon, as she'd done the past couple days. The Beast King was her partner, she was determined; despite having no digivice to prove it, she knew in her soul it was true. Leomon didn't believe it for a moment, but found arguing with the girl either led to a fierce retaliation, the likes of which he'd never seen from such a small creature, or a wave of sadness that compelled him to repent for his opinion. So, over time he gave up on the argument, but his position never wavered. She sat close to him and cuddled up to his massive left arm, which alone outsized her, and while the affectionate nature of the girl was at first off-putting to the champion, he grew to tolerate and, to his chagrin, even mildly enjoy the care and warmth the girl produced in his presence. He often watched her, out of curiosity, he assured himself, not a protective urge or any such nonsense, and noticed her lack of interaction with other humans her age. She rarely spoke when she was around others, save the other tamers, and even so, she often did so with the assistance of her puppet. When she spoke with him, though, the puppet was shelved; instead, she spoke to him as herself, no mask to hide behind.

"Leomon," She began, her voice somewhat soft, but Leomon knew this to be normal. Usually she wasn't as cheery around him, just because she knew she didn't have to be for him to know she was happy, unlike everyone else. If she ever dropped the upbeat tone, others would assume something was wrong. This was _her_ voice, and he was one of the few to hear it often. "We're going to the digital world soon, and I want to go, but the others say that it's dangerous without a partner." She stopped for a moment, pausing to collect her thoughts, "Would… would you come with me even though I don't have a digivice?"

Leomon sighed, deep and hearty. This was the question he'd been asking himself lately, was he to stay with her? He'd already confronted the issue of him sticking around despite the lack of a need to; he had not ties to bind him to this girl, yet he continued to meet her. Why? He couldn't answer, not with honesty. "Jeri, you know that you are not my tamer…" He began, choosing words carefully and finding the effort taxing to his mind. "If I went with you, you would not be able to digivolve me, I would be afraid of not being able to protect you. If you were hurt… I would never forgive myself."

Jeri's eyes misted, not out of sadness of his gentle rejection, but rather out of joy of its contents. The lion had just admitted, albeit indirectly, that he cared for the girl. She'd been waiting for this, a reciprocation of any form to her feelings. He may not have felt as strongly as she, but then even Jeri didn't truly know the extent of her love for the beast. Jeri shut her eyes tight to force back her joyous tears and clutched tighter to Leomon's arm, her right fist balled up as an unnatural warmth began to bloom within it. Jeri's eyes cracked open to find a golden glow flowing from her hand, the heat ever-increasing, yet never painful, never even uncomfortable. It was a comforting heat, like one felt through an embrace with a dear friend, perhaps even a lover. The tears on the edges of Jeri's eyes glistened in the light as she released Leomon and both looked at the solidifying brightness in the young girl's palm. Gold light gave way to matte grey and gold plastic, and a form was finalized as the light began to fade. Tears flowed fully from Jeri's eyes, rivers of joy traveling down her cheeks as she shrieked with joy. Leomon smiled warmly, knowing truly now where his place was.

Jeri had gotten her wish.

**(Break)**

"It would appear the humans have found a way across." A voice echoed down the spacious hall, reverberating off the apparently acoustically perfect walls. He grinned, having been waiting for this.

"If you come to my house, expect a fight…" he muttered to himself, his large teeth glinting in the low light.

"What are your orders sir? They won't be landing anywhere near us." He perked up at this comment, one he'd not been expecting.

"How far?" This would be another damn problem, as if he hadn't had enough so far. It would be worth it, he knew, but he had no time to think about that, instead he focused on what the voice at the end of the hall replied with.

"Several days travel by foot, and the I/O Streams aren't reliable right now, due to their heavy use by those chasing emergence portals."

"So it's walk for days, or get caught in traffic? Ugh, just kill me now." He thought for a moment, contemplating this new development. "How quickly can we get a unit of five out there?"

"It would depend sir…" After a moment's pause, the voice realized just _which_ five his master meant. "They could be there in a couple days, perhaps quicker."

"Good, tell them to go now, they've just digivolved, so they should have no issue in getting there quickly." He said. The voice chirped in reply and began to leave, but the master spoke up again. "Before you leave… tell them if they don't _haul_ ass, I'm gonna _have _their ass, understand?"

"Ye-es sir!" The voice shook as it replied, remembering the last time the master had "had someone's ass". If he remembered correctly, the stains never came out of the walls. Despite his strange nature, the master was one to be feared, and everyone knew it.

**(Break)**

"Here?"

"Yeah, set it up." A Monodramon sighed, looking around. "Quick now, we don't want anyone to see."

"How much time do we have?" A Woodmon, who was helping in the setup, asked.

Monodramon looked to a satyr-like digimon who was carrying a device given to them for just such a purpose. "Couple hours." He replied, scratching behind one of his horns.

"Hurry your asses up then." Monodramon said to the three who were performing the setup. "It takes a while to get to get going, and we need a full split before they jump."

"If we need to go so quick, why don't you help, jackass?" A blue tinted Devimon quipped. "Not like you or lambchops over there are doing anything useful."

"Shut up and work." Came a reply from a Phantomon who was working next to him. "If you'd pay attention, you'd notice that we were the only ones who learned how to put this damn thing together."

"Yeah well…" the Devimon started, but he had no room to complain, as the setup was alright finished.

"I'll get it started." The satyr digimon said, walking to the now fully constructed device. He plugged in the piece he'd been using to watch the time, which sent a ping to the spy who was keeping tabs for them that it was time to come back. A switch was flipped and the structure came to life, a few lights turning red, then green as the machine primed and, after a moment of whirring and cycling, began to fire a black beam into the I/O stream above, splitting it in half. "Are we clear?" The satyr asked as he looked at Monodramon, who was focused on an earpiece and nodded after a moment.

"Yep," he replied. "Stream strengthens back up right where we want it to. We're done here, let's go."

**(Break)**

Renamon and Raia had healed up sufficiently in the past few days, and since then we'd been waiting for a signal that it was time to go. I'd grown curious about the code again, knowing I wouldn't be able to access it the entire time we were in the digital world, and I'd stumbled upon something strange while looking through it. A couple strange things had happened, like how I'd noticed I couldn't edit Renamon's code in the way I had Raia's. Certain parts in both were locked down to only be edited by the creator, which I obviously wasn't, but there was a part in both that was accessible, but voided out by exception markings, meaning it was written, but not implemented. As I peered through the code, it appeared to access a 7th digivolutionary form, which only existed in a few digimon, one of which _wasn't_ Renamon as a species. Since I'd discovered it, I began to fill it in, as it was incomplete, undoubtedly the reason it was voided. It was difficult work, and consumed time like a wild fire, but after a couple days I'd finished it and removed the void marks, then uploaded it to Raia and Renamon, who, unsurprisingly, felt no significant change.

"So how do we access it?" Raia had asked when I finished.

"Well, I hope we never have to use it at all," I replied, knowing that the only justifiable reason to use it was to fight someone of a similar power, but I continued regardless, just in case we _did_ need it. "But we can access it through biomerging, like the mega form. We'll just have to press past that somehow."

"So you don't know exactly?" Renamon asked. I shook my head, my eyes weary as I answered.

"Nope, all I can see is that it involved biomerging." I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for bed." I walked past them and crashed on the couch, not wanting to make the extra effort to get to the bedroom.

Raia laughed at me, a bright, happy giggle that warmed me inside, and began pulling on my arm. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

"Good here." I said. "Turn the TV on." Raia sighed, resigning to leave me, and turned on the TV for me. Renamon came over as well and both kneeled to next to me and took turns giving me a goodnight kiss.

"Good night." They each said.

I smiled and replied. "Night girls, see you in the morning, we have a big day tomorrow." They padded off to the bedroom and I lay watching TV as I began to drift off. Faintly, just as I was losing consciousness, I heard a news story come on.

"One month's passing since the disappearance of a local girl has caused search efforts to cease here in Shinjuku." Said the reporter onscreen, but I wasn't listening. "The family could not be reached for comment, so we'll play some file footage from the beginning of the search, one month ago."

Another reporter had come on screen, and the date was roughly that of the time Raia had died, perhaps a couple days after. "I'm here outside the home of a local girl who has gone missing recently." He walked to the door and I slipped from consciousness completely, only catching the last few words. "Hello ma'am, it's my understanding you are Rumiko Nona…"

I woke the next morning and headed out to the park with all of my gear, waiting at Guilmon's little house and gazing at the massive hole he'd dug. Before long the other tamers arrived, along with Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri.

"Jeri, are you sure it's safe for you to come? I mean, Leomon isn't your partner." Takato began, but Jeri just grinned and pulled out a grey form, which was revealed to be a digivice. I smiled, glad she'd gotten it in time.

"I'm a tamer, I can come too." She said. "What about Kazu and Kenta? They don't have partners."

"Why do you think we're coming along?" Kazu said adamantly. "How the heck else are we supposed to find partners if you keep deleting them all."

I chuckled. "Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted any of them. Now, let's get going." I said, jumping into the hole and crawling through it. Behind me I heard Kazu complaining about how "that guy has two partners, but he gets squat." I just chuckled again, focusing on the light in front of me, tensing slightly as I crawled through it.


End file.
